Mt. Shasta City, Calif. — A Mt. Shasta City man is speaking out, after witnessing a murder in February. He did not wish to be identified, but said the incident has changed his life.
On Thursday, the suspect in the case, Raymond Romani, 51, pleaded guilty to homicide in the second degree, after confessing to the brutal killing of Roger Napolitano on February 22nd. On that night, the witness said he was with a friend at his business on Berry street, when they heard screams.
“All we heard was yelling that was typical in those woods all the time,” the witness said. “I gave my binoculars to my buddy and he went out to zoom in and see what was going on.”
The witness said he saw Romani stomping on the ground, but couldn’t see the area very well.
“You couldn’t really tell because of the brush and stuff, and as soon as I hung up the phone, he says call the police, that’s a man laying there.”
The witness and his friend ran outside to the area by the train tracks and behind the movie theater, where Napolitano was.
“I ran over to see if I could help him, and ran up on somebody who I knew couldn’t be helped.”
The witness said the suspect walked out of the woods, and started down the train tracks.
“My buddy’s sitting there with the binoculars looking at him, saying he’s wearing this, and we watched exactly where he went.”
Police arrived a short time later, and were able to arrest Romani following a short chase. According to both police and the witness, Romani was covered in blood.
Napolitano was taken to Redding for treatment, where he later died. Romani is scheduled to be sentenced on October 13th after pleading guilty to homicide in the second degree. He will likely receive a life sentence in prison.
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