Former Ranlo police officer guilty of fatal shooting

Lina PortmanJune 5, 2024

1 3 minutes read

A former Ranlo police officer was convicted this week of shooting and killing another man during a fight at the man's home in early 2023.

Kwaku “Riley” Agyapon, 35, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Juan Nikely Avalo, 33, whom he shot during an altercation at Avalo's home on Burlington Avenue in Ranlo in the early hours on the morning of January 1st. 2023.

He was initially charged with first-degree murder.

The conflict between the two men stemmed from an earlier meeting in which Avalo was accused of assaulting his partner, Krystal Ortiz, Assistant District Attorney Debbie Gulledge said.

Agyapon first came into contact with Ortiz on November 28, 2022, when Ortiz called police and said Avalo had assaulted her. Agyapon was one of the Ranlo Police Department officers who responded to the call, and later gave Ortiz his phone number so he could help him access community resources and answer questions about the legal process, Gulledge said.

The two communicated in the days following the assault, but Ortiz and Avalo reconciled, despite Avalo's arrest, and the two continued to live together.

Late on the night of Dec. 31, 2022, Avalo realized Ortiz had Agyapon's number in his phone and began asking him who Agyapon was, Gulledge said.

He called Agyapon three times, and Agyapon called him back, exchanging “fighting words” with Avalo, Gulledge said.

The two men agreed to meet at a QT gas station to fight, and both showed up, but missed each other.

“So one of them got there first and left. The second one got there,” Gulledge said.

Avalo told Agyapon something like, 'You know where I live. You know where to find me,'” Gulledge said.

“After this comment was made, this defendant went to the home of Mr. Avalo and Ms. Ortiz on Burlington Avenue,” she added.

Agyapon, who was off duty, parked on the road and got out of his vehicle. He and Avalo argued and Ortiz tried to intervene.

A neighbor came out and said she was going to call the police, and Agyapon told her to call, Gulledge said.

Avalo got into his vehicle, went to the top of the driveway and got out of his car with “something” that Ortiz did not initially recognize as a weapon, Gulledge said.

Avalo and Agyapon started fighting and Avalo stabbed Agyapon several times.

Ortiz and Avalo's children were present, one of them inside the house and the other outside, Gulledge said, and Ortiz went to check on the children.

Avalo started running towards the back of the house. Agyapon later told police that when Avalo was stabbing him and started to retreat, “he said something like 'see what I can do to the kids next,'” Gulledge said.

Agyapon pulled out his service weapon and shot Avalo in the back of the head, killing him.

Agyapon was hospitalized for several days to receive treatment for his stab wounds. He was terminated from the Ranlo Police Department, where he had worked since August 2022. As part of his plea agreement, he permanently surrendered his law enforcement certificate.

Speaking in Spanish with the help of a translator in court, Avalo's mother, Violeta Avalo, demanded justice for her son.

“He took half my life and half my heart,” she said of Agyapon. “He was my boy and he had a son. To me he was the best in the world.”

Nora Carradro, Ortiz's mother, also spoke out, saying Agyapon left Avalo's children without a father.

“He took a father, a son, a husband,” she said. “He had a choice, and he chose to go out there and take (Avalo’s) life…He took justice into his own hands.”

Lina Portman

Related Articles

Man sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting soldier in Phoenix

2 people arrested for DWI and other reports – Albert Lea Tribune

9 bodies from Rajkot fire tragedy identified through DNA test: Gujarat Home Minister

Montana sheriff's captain remembers Gila police officer who died in shooting