Ronnie Thomas III, a 22-year-old Black male, was fatally shot on May 31, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland. The shooting occurred during a cookout near Belair Road and Sinclair Lane. His death was part of a particularly violent month in the city, which saw a significant spike in homicides.
The backdrop to Ronnie Thomas III's life and death was steeped in violence and notoriety.
He was the son of Ronnie Thomas Jr., also known as 'Skinny Suge,' who was well-known in Baltimore for producing the controversial 'Stop Snitching' DVDs, which aimed to discourage cooperation with law enforcement. At the time of his son's death, Ronnie Thomas Jr. was incarcerated. Just 13 months before his own murder, Ronnie Thomas III's younger brother, Najee Thomas, was also shot and killed.
In the year leading up to his death, Ronnie Thomas III had his own encounters with the law. He had been shot and wounded in a previous incident and was later charged with attempted murder in a separate case. These charges were eventually dropped, and he was released from jail in April 2015, just over a month before he was killed. Family members indicated that he had been worried about being labeled a 'snitch' following the earlier shooting incident.
Despite the circumstances surrounding his life and the violent nature of his death, there have been no arrests made in the murder of Ronnie Thomas III, and no suspects have been publicly identified. His case, like that of his younger brother, remains unsolved. The broader context of his family's history and the cycle of violence in their community provides a grim narrative to his untimely death.
