Loving Son, Long Record Mother’s Memories Paint Softer Picture Of Victim

Nearly everything in Glenna Mitchell’s east Spokane apartment reminds her of her son, who was shot to death early Tuesday.

The ratty old pin cushion he made for her in preschool. A flowery ceramic vase he gave her for Christmas one year. The set of china he bought at a garage sale that she proudly displays in a fancy glass-front cabinet.

Photographs of Ronnie Armstead, neatly dressed and hinting at a smile, hang on the walls.

When Mitchell looks at them, she sees the son who took a job at a fast-food joint when he was 14 to help pay for groceries. Or the big brother who used to make sure Mike Armstead, now 18, finished his homework and took a bath every night.

She also sees the young man who earned his GED and studied sociology for two years in junior college. At his first day of work at a recent telemarketing job, Ronnie Armstead, 22, impressed his bosses by easily beating his call quota.

“He could come in here and sweep you right off your feet,” Mitchell said of her oldest son. “He could win your heart, sell you a car and you wouldn’t even know you just bought it.”

That was the other side to the drug-peddling, thieving, violent Ronnie Armstead that’s sketched out in a criminal history with 49 arrests, family members said Wednesday. He had 18 convictions in his short life, lived in a juvenile detention home and was known to police as a crack-cocaine dealer.

“Everybody has bad stuff going on,” said his father, Ronnie Armstead Sr., who has worked at Kaiser Aluminum for the past 17 years. “You have to mix the good in to see the whole story.”

Ronnie Armstead and his girlfriend, Angela Stewart, were shot to death in his North Side apartment early Tuesday. Ronnie’s uncle, Richard Armstead, 42, also was shot but jumped from a second-story window and survived.

He remained in critical condition at a local hospital late Wednesday.

Police said at least four people burst into the apartment at 2914 N. Hogan shortly before 3 a.m. and opened fire. They believe the shooting is drug- or gang-related but have no clear motive for the carnage.

Detectives refused to release autopsy results but sources said all three victims were shot multiple times.

Ronnie Armstead lived at the apartment with childhood friend Jason Brown, who also has a long criminal record. Brown was out of town during the shooting.

Some of Ronnie Armstead’s relatives blame his death on his friendship with Brown. The two got in trouble together often, they said.

“I told him over and over, ‘Jason’s going to be the death of you,”’ said Mitchell, a nursing assistant. “I wish I was there to take the bullets for my boy.”

Mitchell, 40, said she introduced her son last summer to Stewart, who worked with her at St. Brendan Continuing Care Center on the South Hill. The two started dating in August.

Stewart’s mother, Nancy Stewart, is the nursing home’s administrator. She declined to be interviewed Wednesday.

Ronnie Armstead’s relatives remember one night recently when Stewart, who has no criminal record, invited her boyfriend over to her house for dinner. Ronnie Armstead fretted over the date, worrying he’d use the wrong fork and embarrass himself in front of her parents, Mitchell said.

“He was particular about things like that, especially about his clothes,” she said, noting his obsession with perfectly creased pants.

Mitchell and other relatives worked on funeral arrangements Wednesday and said a memorial service likely will be held. Ronnie Armstead had three children and many friends, they said.

“He was good to people,” his mother said. “He loved his family so much and he took care of things. He never let me do without. Sometimes, he carried me on his shoulders.”

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