Inset: Romi Frentescu (McLennan County Sheriff’s Office). Background: An intersection where a father and son were killed in Bruceville-Eddy, Texas (Google Maps).
In a dramatic courtroom setting this week, a Texas man faces severe legal repercussions as his trial unfolds for the tragic shooting and killing of a father and son.
Romi Frentescu, aged 33, is charged with two counts of capital murder, along with accusations of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, tampering with evidence, and making a terroristic threat.
The heart-wrenching event took place in October 2024 at a notable intersection in Bruceville-Eddy—Mackey Ranch Road and Old Moody Road. This small Texas town, approximately 20 miles south of Waco, became the site of the tragic deaths of 38-year-old Michael David Morris and his son, 18-year-old Braxton Johnson.
In the aftermath, authorities swiftly arrested Frentescu, and now, as his trial commences, the community looks on, seeking justice for the grievous loss suffered by the victims’ family.
The violence stemmed from an altercation between rival bikers, according to law enforcement in the Lone Star State.
Prosecutors allege the defendant is a member of the Ugly Man Cossacks and that Morris was a member of the 1%ers Cossacks.
In its opening statement, the defense capitalized on those dynamics — saying there was long-standing bad blood between Morris and Frentescu and painting Morris as the aggressor on the day in question, according to a courtroom report by Waco-based CBS affiliate KWTX.
The defense said Frentescu acted in self-defense — after Morris pulled a switchblade on him — by shooting and killing the pair.
The state, however, sought to cast the defendant in a cruel light.
A witness recalled Frentescu returning to the crime scene and telling a nurse who was rendering aid, “Let him f—ing die.”
The witness also described seeing the shooting.
He said his daughter was outside playing basketball when she screamed about two men arguing in the road. The witness said he went outside to find the bikers “squaring up” as if to have a fistfight but that after someone said “let’s do this,” one of the men pulled out a gun.
Someone in a pickup truck then drove over one of the motorcycles, and four shots rang out — one of the men could be heard screaming, “You just murdered two people. You are going to prison,” the witness testified. Finally, Frentescu fled in a red pickup driven by a woman, the witness said.
A short time later, Frentescu and the woman returned, the witness said. That’s when the defendant allegedly told the nurse to stop attending to one of the victims, according to the testimony.
“There was no remorse for what he had done,” the witness added.
The witness also said he never saw Morris with the alleged knife.
Officers who later arrested Frentescu alleged that the defendant’s lack of visible injuries was inconsistent with his story, according to charging documents obtained by Waco-based Fox affiliate KWKT.
The defense stressed the self-defense theory of the case on Monday.
The defendant’s lawyers said the 1%er Cossacks were incensed at the Ugly Man Cossacks for being a splinter group and had put out a “smash-on-sight order” against the group’s members, including Frentescu.
To that end, the defense said Morris drove by his client’s house on the day of the shooting, revved his engine and made an obscene gesture. This allegedly happened after Morris threatened to burn down Frentescu’s house and kill his dog.
“Romi is a peacemaker,” one defense attorney said. “He tried to calm the situation down. He tried to mediate the situation, but Morris would have nothing to do with that…Romi was defending himself every minute of that day.”
If convicted as charged, Frentescu faces life in prison with no possibility of parole because the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office took the death penalty off the table.
His trial continues this week.
The post ‘Let him f—ing die’: Man killed father and son during roadside altercation and then returned to the crime scene to yell at a nurse rendering aid, prosecutors say first appeared on Law & Crime.