re: Family of Slain NSU Football Player Filing Lawsuit

Caldwell Family statement

LINK /


After a series of verbal altercations, Ronnie’s new roommate pulled a gun on him on October 9th. Ronnie immediately reported this to his parents. Ronnie’s father immediately sent a text to Northwestern State Head Football Coach Brad Laird alerting him that he needed help and that Ronnie’s roommate had pulled a gun on him. Coach Laird replied with a phone call assuring the family that he would take immediate action and move Ronnie to a safe location. Nothing was done, the family heard no updates from the University. The next call the family received was from Coach Brad Laird telling us that Ronnie had been murdered. Three days after his cry for help, Ronnie was shot and killed at his apartment.

If that was my kid I’d be damn sure he was out of that place ASAP, I’m not waiting on coach or the apt manager to do something

Yes they can. In many college towns, places are rented by the room. They can put anyone with you if you don’t have roommates. Not saying I like it or that it should be that way but that’s how it is in many places.

This situation is why that’s not a good idea.

I hadn’t even heard about this. Awful.

(Edit: idk if athletes living off campus are treated any differently than normal students Re: housing).

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So not only do they not house only athletes with athletes, they not only house athletes with students, but athletes with just some dude off the street?

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Exactly. I played baseball at a small Junior college in Mississippi and it even had athletes only dorms. No reason a school like NSU doesn’t as well.

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There is a big apartment complex across from Cajun Field in Lafayette where a lot of the student athletes live, but it's also full of complete ghetto trash. I would not want to be there if I was a student.

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University House? Behind Drug Emporium and Rouses? It has gotten pretty sketchy the last 5 or 6 years. Those were top of the line when I started college in 08. It was recently sold. The company is converting it into condos that you have to buy.

I don’t know how it could be done but every high ranking employee of the university should be fired and the board of supervisors should be removed. You gotta cut out all the cancer.

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believe each bedroom in the unit can be locked from the outside since it’s basically just 4 individual rentals that share a kitchen/living room.

The family also mentioned in the press conference that the mold issue and him moving to a new apartment happened back in March, so it’s not like the ‘roommate’ was new or unknown by now.

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Share Kitchen, living room, anything like a balcony or patio off the living room, main entrance, and maybe a utility room. Each individual bedroom & bathroom behind bolt locked doors (at least the ones I am familiar with).

Most students and owners of apartments use an app to match up with friends and fill an apartment. If they can’t fill all bedrooms they can have people seeking one placed with them including non-students when owned by 3rd party company like these are. Depends on demand by students and who is signing contract (like if individual signs or if athletics signs up for set amount of apartments and pays regardless of filling every bedroom & controls placement in those). Only way any unused bedroom for sure doesn’t get placed with a single renter is someone paying for bedroom/bathroom without using it (or someone paying for 2 bedrooms to use one for storage or something else).

Roommates can be moved out during contract (while still under original terms if same company or with university if a dorm apartment on campus) if issues with other roommates or causing the issues or maintenance issues. Getting moved can lose choice of roommates and just gets placed in what’s available for rest of contract.

It is strange if move due to mold happened in March to not be back with teammates or selected roommates by fall semester (including having teammates move into newer place). Apartment had to have had some changeover, so it might just have gotten bad with a recent move in.

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So not only do they not house only athletes with athletes, they not only house athletes with students, but athletes with just some dude off the street?

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Exactly. I played baseball at a small Junior college in Mississippi and it even had athletes only dorms. No reason a school like NSU doesn’t as well.

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Not sure if still the rule, but at one point the NCAA did away with the old athletic only dorms. Any dorm housing athletes has to have at least 51% non-athletic students as residents.

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If they actually housed any student with a non-student, dorm director, athletic director and president should all be fired. This makes me very angry as a parent.

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It isn’t a dorm. It’s off campus housing owned and managed by a group out of Austin. The university has no control over it.

I have a kid playing ball 8+ hrs away from us. I'd love to say I would get him a hotel etc. But in reality you can't get a hotel unless you're 21+. You really depend on the coaches to look after their kids. When this all broke, I couldn't understand why this coach quit. Now I do. I'm surprised he hasn't eaten a bullet honestly.

Maybe everyone else has boys who are in constant contact with them all the time. But realistically, I get ghosted much more even in situations that I think are important than I'd like.

Hindsight is 20/20. Of course everyone would go and do everything they could when you know the kid is going to die. But many times you have no idea how serious it was or even what the real situation is. You're not dealing with a full on adult who has full capacity of communicating in the English language. You have a 20 yr old kid who thinks they're bullet proof and so lucky that nothing bad could ever happen to them. So don't go blaming the parents for not knowing exactly what the deal was. That's why they called the supposed adult.... THE COACH! The coach is the liaison between the school and parents and most of the times kid.