Cops hunt 4 fiends in deadly stab
POLICE HAVE released photos of four men wanted for questioning in the April 13 slaying of man stabbed repeatedly in the thigh during a fight in a Bronx building lobby.
Ronnie Gardner, 28, was on his way to “give some money to somebody that he owed” when he was viciously attacked, according to his fiance, Ron Cerreta.
Cerreta said his fiance had debts, and a troubled history of crack and heroin use.
“He had issues from before he was even born. His mother was a crack addict. He always dealt with that,” Cerreta said, adding Gardner’s mother died in October 2016. ”It really blew him away,” Cerreta said. “I think he used to do drugs to try to forget.”
According to Cerreta, his fiance was stabbed three times, and that “apparently it was in a place that was very vulnerable. He lost so much blood he didn’t make it.”
Police said Gardner (photo) was visiting a friend in the building when he was attacked.
“Knowing Ronnie, he could have just said the wrong thing at the wrong time,” Cerreta said. “He was very proud.”
Clutching a photo of his dead fiance, Cerreta recalled Gardner’s best qualities.
“He always made people laugh,” he recalled. “He was so funny. He always used to cheer me up. He used to say to me all the time that he was a people person.”
The two met in 2013. Gardner was a home health aide, but lost his job before they started dating, Cerreta said.
Cerreta seemed stunned that his fiance’s debts may have led to his death.
“I never knew he would owe so much that somebody would want him dead,” he said.
Anyone with information about the suspects (photos below) is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-8477. All calls are kept confidential.