Left: Stephon Dubose (Durham police). Right: Angela Risi (Legacy.com).
A North Carolina man is facing decades in prison for barging into his girlfriend”s home and shooting her dead and injuring her roommate — all because she refused to be in an “exclusive relationship” with him.
Stephon Dubose, 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of 30-year-old Angela Marina Risi in Durham. He will be sentenced to between 35 and 44 years behind bars, according to the plea deal.
Cops responded to a home in the 1000 block of Worth Street for a shooting shortly after 7 a.m. on Oct. 2, 2023. When cops arrived, they found Risi suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. In a bedroom, they found Risi’s roommate also suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were transported to a hospital where doctors pronounced Risi dead.
Risi’s roommate told cops that “Jimmy” shot them. Dubose goes by Jimmy, police said.
About a half hour after the shooting, officers responded to a home in the 4000 block of Tranquil Road for a stabbing. Dubose showed up at his family’s home and began stabbing himself, prompting them to call 911. Officers responded and were able to get the knife away from him. Dubose told the cops he just “shot a female in the face and wasn’t going back to prison and couldn’t live anymore,” an affidavit for a search warrant said.
Risi’s father, Matteo Risi, told local NBC affiliate WRAL that moments before his daughter was murdered, she and Dubose were in the suspect’s car where they argued over the future of their relationship. Dubose wanted an “exclusive relationship” but she didn’t want that, her father explained. She left his car and went into her home.
“He broke in, then chased her to the back of the house … fired 11 rounds, shot her eight times, with a handgun, 9-millimeter handgun. And then, even more amazing, is he then burst into the bedroom of Angela’s roommate and shot her three times. She survived but is permanently disabled.”
Matteo Risi called his daughter a “really wonderful person.”
“Very bright, very smart, always fun,” he said in an interview with WRAL. “At her celebration of life, there were well over 200 people who attended and many more who wanted to come as well.”
Angela Risi was a second-year graduate student in the dance program at Duke University, the school told local ABC affiliate WTVD at the time.
“The Duke community joins in their shock and sadness at this tragic loss,” the school said in a statement.
City council member Dedreana Freeman who lived next door to the victims told WTVD that the couple had been arguing in the days leading up to the murder.
“No one deserves to be killed for differences like that. They had an argument Friday. Things got loud and everybody could hear it. Whatever it was on Monday for you to come back and shoot, shouldn’t have happened,” she said.
The murder victim grew up in California where she developed a passion for dance.
“She started young with ballet, modern, jazz, and tap dance,” her obituary said.
A sentencing date for Dubose has yet to be set.
