A Lafayette man who was already facing a second-degree murder charge, is behind bars facing charges for another murder that happened in November.
Detectives tell us Traven Solomon shot Robert Felix on West Willow St. in Scott.
At the time of the murder, he was out on bond for the death of Damien Champ in the summer of 2015.
Felix’s family tells KATC’s Dannielle Garcia, they’re hurt and frustrated by this situation. Three months ago, when Felix was killed, they had questions about who was responsible. But now that a suspect is in custody, they have even more questions than they did before
“I wake up in the morning and I think about him, and I really miss him,” said Robert Barte, the father of Felix. “I take it day by day. I have good days and bad days. If justice is done, and this guy is put away, it will help me. And my son will rest in peace.”
Barte believes if the suspect hadn’t been released after the first murder charge or the trial hadn’t taken more than three years to take place, then his son might still be alive today.
“It hurts me to know that this man has killed before and they let him go. They didn’t bring him to trial or nothing like that. They kept backing it up and now we have two families that are suffering,” said Barte.
Damien Champ was shot and killed in June of 2015. Traven Solomon was indicted in that case for second degree murder a year later.
But he was released on a $7,000 bond in the spring of 2018 and later that fall is when police say he shot and killed Felix.
“I’m hoping that it’ll be a speedy trial because the other family is still mourning and no justice has been done. We need justice done. It’s time for the people we put in office to do their job and until that’s done I can’t move forward. It’s going to be on my mind that the system is failing,” said the concerned father.
Between 2016 and 2018, records show Solomon switched between 3 different public defenders, setting back court dates for the initial murder of Champ.
Although no trial date has been set for that case at this time, he is scheduled to appear in court for another motion later this month.
