Fatal Melee Started Over a Cigarette

Source from:  By KEVIN MARTIN, SUN MEDIA The Calgary Sun 06/12/2008

Murder suspect Pavon Raul Flores announced he wasn't someone to trifle with during a melee that led to the death of a Calgary teen, court heard yesterday. Alex Barnwell, who had met Flores before, said the accused killer became angry after a request for a cigarette was denied. Barnwell told Crown prosecutor Susan Kennedy the accused pushed Rigel Cole, who was later fatally stabbed, and then announced his importance. "He said 'don't you know who I am, I'm Raul, I just got out of jail and I don't give a (damn),'" Barnwell said. Flores, 20, is charged with second-degree murder in the Aug. 11, 2006, slaying of Cole, 18. He is also accused of attempted murder for allegedly stabbing Cole's friend, Scott Ng, during the same altercation. Barnwell said the melee started after Flores and a black man approached his group, who had assembled in the cul-de-sac outside a Hawkview Manor Bay N.W. home. Someone asked for a cigarette and was told "no, sorry, we don't smoke." A shoving match then ensued with Flores pushing Cole, Barnwell said. The accused then pulled a knife and hit Barnwell with the butt end of the weapon, he testified. At one point Cole, Ng and a third friend, Jeff Jackson, retreated towards the home and were chased by Flores, he said. But Barnwell said when the group got to the top of the driveway, he had difficulty distinguishing what was happening. Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Markham Silver, he also admitted the black male with Flores had followed the group towards the house. He also told Silver he never saw Cole being stabbed, despite picking Flores out of a photo line-up as the culprit who knifed his friend. The trial continues. Enditem