Sister of LCSO deputy-involved shooting suspect speaks out

NAPLES, Fla. — An armed suspect kept the Pine Manor neighborhood on edge Wednesday night as Lee County deputies conducted a nearly eight-hour manhunt.

Rones Sagesse, 24, exchanged gunfire with two Lee County Sheriff’s deputies after responding to a domestic dispute at 5511 Sixth Ave. He eventually surrendered to authorities after he knocked on the door of a woman’s home and she called 911.

However, Mirlande Sagesse, the suspect’s sister, warned deputies that her brother planned to kill his girlfriend several hours before his violent rampage.

“He was going to get blood, he was going to shoot somebody and I told them,” Mirlande said.

Mirlande said her brother stole her car at around 8 a.m. on Wednesday and left her a text message.

She said she called police 20 minutes after he left, adding that she couldn’t believe they took so long to find him after she called them Wednesday morning.

Reports show Rones Sagesee was in Pine Manor hours later and had his girlfriend pinned up against the outside of an apartment.

Deputies arrived on the scene and shots were fired.

“I knew nothing could stop him, so I knew he was going to shoot the police back,” Mirlande said. “I knew they were going to shoot him.”

Rones Sagesse fired first and deputies returned fire, shooting Sagesse in the leg.

He was eventually caught outside of a home on the 1800 block of Maple Drive, three streets down from his girlfriend’s Pine Manor home.

“It’s upsetting, it’s just he needs the help,” Mirlande said. “I just hope they could help him in there.”

Rones Sagesse is in custody, though it’s unclear whether he’s in a hospital or in jail.

It’s not the first time he has been accused of a violent encounter with deputies.

He was arrested Oct. 10 after punching a deputy in the head, the sheriff’s office said. That deputy and one other grappled with him on the ground before they used a taser to subdue him, according to the sheriff’s office.