MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – A Haitian migrant is accused of stabbing and killing two roommates in an apartment complex in Middletown. The murders occurred as the man was awaiting a federal deportation hearing, according to reports.
The suspect was identified as 30-year-old Kenol Baptiste. He is facing charges that include second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter, both felonies, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, reported the Times-Herald Record.
On Monday afternoon, police were dispatched to the Ruth Court apartments upon receiving a call regarding a stabbing. Responding officers located one man outside on a sidewalk suffering from critical injuries and a second man was discovered dead inside a unit.
The victim who was clinging to life was transported to the Garnet Health Medical Center. However, he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Baptiste was captured by a law enforcement K9 team in a wooded area near the apartment complex shortly after the stabbings, the New York Post reported.
Baptiste and both victims originated from Haiti and spoke Creole. The men were acquaintances and had been living together in the apartment for less than a year. It’s unclear if they came to the U.S. together.
“In follow up with members of the community we are learning that this group of individuals moved in there about a year ago,” Middletown Police Chief John Ewanciw told Mid Hudson News. “Our suspect, due to fingerprinting responses, we learned that he came to the United States about eight months ago. We are still trying to track back how, where, when.”
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the killings, if one is known.
Identities of the victims have not yet been released pending family notification.
Baptiste was awaiting federal immigration proceedings at the time of the fatal stabbings, according to Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus.
The county leader blamed the Biden administration for the brutal deaths on American soil.
“This is a failure on all levels of the federal government,” Neuhaus told News12 Hudson Valley. “It was one of the most brutal murders that some law enforcement is reporting to us that they’ve seen.”
Baptiste is scheduled to make a court appearance on Friday. He is currently housed at the Orange County Jail.
Meanwhile, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones in Ohio harshly rebuked President Joe Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following a murder committed in his jurisdiction this week, reportedly by a migrant — 46-year-old Fermin Garcia-Gutierrez —- who has previously been deported eight times, Law Officer reported.
“He’s been in our jail 11 times, he had (used) seven different names, he had (used) three different birthdates, he’d been to prison three times, he’s been deported eight times, and what I said was he had over 20 charges in 20 years,” Sheriff Jones highlighted.
The sheriff prominently displayed pictures of the defendant along with President Biden, Secretary Mayorkas, and Mexico’s President Obrador as if they were co-conspirators in the homicide.
