DALLAS (AP) — A man found guilty of fatally shooting three people during a 2005 attempted robbery at a rural Texas home is scheduled to be executed Wednesday, a week after the other man convicted in the killings was put to death.
Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, is set to die by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He would be the sixth person executed so far this year in Texas, with three more scheduled.
A jury convicted Ramey of capital murder and sentenced him to death over the shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, in the home they shared in the small city of Edna, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston.
Ramey and LeJames Norman believed there was cocaine in the house and hoped to steal it, according to court records. They found none and killed the three victims, who lived across the street from Norman.
Norman was put to death Sept. 16, also in Huntsville. He had no last words, and no relatives or friends of the victims witnessed that execution.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from Ramey hours before Wednesday's execution was set to take place.
Ramey's attorneys had argued that jurors never heard about how he suffered physical abuse as a child and grew up in poverty. State prosecutors told the court the appeal was “meritless” and argued that evidence showed Ramey had “an escalating pattern of criminal behavior."
Norman testified at Ramey's trial nearly two years before being sentenced to death by a jury after pleading guilty to capital murder. He testified that both he and Ramey shot the victims. Ramey’s attorneys blamed the shootings on Norman.
Ramey’s former girlfriend testified that she was with him when he threw two pistols into a lake after the killings, and that he told her in detail about his involvement.
Lopez was shot four times, including in the back of the head; Peacock was shot twice in the head; and Roberts was shot five times in the chest, neck and head.
This story has been updated to correct that Norman testified at Ramey’s trial nearly two years, not a year, before being sentenced.
This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Ker'Sean Ramey on Oct. 31, 2022. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
FILE - The state of Texas execution chamber in Huntsville, Texas, is seen on May 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Regional forces in Tigray in northern Ethiopia took control of the local airport on Wednesday morning, prompting the state-owned carrier to cancel flights to the troubled region.
Ethiopian Airlines said it suspended flights to Tigray’s capital Mekelle and the cities of Axum and Shire “due to the current situation,” without providing further details.
The regional government said in a statement it had instructed its fighters to enter into “defensive war” after federal forces attacked Tigray on Tuesday using drones and heavy artillery.
The African Union Commission chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, called for restraint and immediate de-escalation.
In a statement, he expressed concern over the renewed tensions and occupation of the airport, saying these actions risk destabilizing the region and reversing gains made in a 2022 peace agreement.
He also condemned the “detention of federal personnel by the Tigray People's Liberation Front," but did not give details.
The U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Ervin J. Massinga expressed disappointment over the fighting, calling it a “poor decision” and threatening sanctions.
Rejecting dialogue sponsored by the African Union and "engaging in an unwinnable fight does nothing for the people. Other armed groups would be wise to avoid this. While the U.S. has tools to sanction additional leaders who try to push Ethiopia down the wrong path, I still believe a reasonable political dialogue is the right way to go,” he wrote in a statement.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front Deputy Amanuel Assefa termed the African Union and U.S. positions “unfair,” accusing them of “turning a blind eye to airstrikes by the federal government”.
On Tuesday, the U.S Bureau of African Affairs condemned a drone strike on a Catholic Relief humanitarian assistance convoy in Tigray and called for investigations without stating which side was responsible.
A taxi driver told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the airport, which is usually controlled by federal forces, was occupied by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front carrying light arms.
The driver, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said a commander ordered him to leave the airport, saying no flights would be landing.
The takeover appeared to be peaceful, with no gunfire heard in or around the airport.
No other airlines fly to the region, although it is reachable by chartered flight.
The news came three days after seven opposition groups, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, formed an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his government.
Abiy’s Prosperity Party retained power in a June general election that was boycotted by the main opposition groups.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front fought federal forces during a deadly conflict in northern Ethiopia that ended with the signing of a peace agreement in November 2022. But since July there have been reports of drone attacks in Tigray, with the regional government accusing the federal forces of attacks.
Former Tigray lead peace negotiator Getachew Reda, now an adviser to the prime minister, accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front of attacks in neighboring Afar and Amhara despite efforts to avoid another war.
“It has taken over federal controlled airports in Tigray leading to the suspension of flights to and from Tigray. The TPLF politico-military leadership has obviously taken irresponsibility to new heights,” he wrote on X.
The opposition groups announced the formation of a coalition they called the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival on Sunday.
FILE - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali attends a session at the World Atomic Week forum at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (Sergei Bulkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
