Brooklyn man charged with shooting his brother, who doesn’t want to press charges
Unable to speak and communicating through a letter chart, a Brooklyn man shot in the spine has an urgent message: Don’t charge his own brother for the shooting.
Stephan Jules insists he pulled the trigger by accident during an argument with his older brother Riccardi Jules in the Canarsie apartment they shared. The bullet traveled through 24-year-old Riccardi’s left lung, chipping his spine.
But Riccardi, who needs a feeding tube and communicates by pointing to letters on a chart, doesn’t want Stephan locked up, their mom and his lawyer both say.
“Last week I told him his brother’s going to turn himself in,” their mother, Stephane Etienne said. “He nods when we stop at a letter and he said no.”
Prosecutors in Brooklyn have other ideas. They contend that Stephan, 23, meant to do his brother harm during the argument. A grand jury indicted Stephan Thursday for attempted murder.
“My heart is breaking, literally, for both my kids,” said Etienne, 47, standing outside Brookdale Hospital where Riccardi is receiving treatment. . “It’s literally too much...Life literally will be unbearable for me knowing that he’s in [jail].”
Etienne lives with her two sons. But she was in Massachusetts on April 12 when the unthinkable happened at about 8:20 p.m.
According to a criminal complaint, an uncle at the apartment heard Stephan threaten to use a gun during the argument with Riccardi.
He then heard a shot and rushed into the room, where he found Riccardi bleeding on the floor. Stephan panicked.
“It was an accident and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in jail,” Stephan said, according to the complaint. Then he ran off.
It’s not clear how Stephan got the gun. The siblings’ mother said she had no idea a firearm was in the home.
Stephan has a sealed gun charge and a 2019 arrest for criminal mischief, police sources said.
He surrendered to cops on Monday and is being held on $100,000 cash bail at Rikers Island.
“He was breaking down on the phone asking how his brother is, even where he is — he’s worried about his brother,” Etienne said, recalling Stephan’s calls from Rikers. “It’s heartbreaking.”
The two brothers are close and went to the gym together the day of the shooting, Etienne said.
“(Stephan) says he doesn’t know what happened. He said he heard ‘boom’ and saw smoke,” Etienne said. “I don’t know anything because ultimately the two of them know.
“Neither one of them would ever intentionally hurt the other...They’re both my babies,” she insisted.
Stephan’s lawyer, Nicholas Ramcharitar, said he and his firm made it “abundantly clear” to prosecutors that Riccardi doesn’t want to press charges.
“While this was an incredibly tragic accident, it was, nonetheless, an accident. We will continue to defend Mr. Jules fervently,” he said.
Stephan will eventually have the feeding tube removed and again be able to speak. He’s expected to make a full recovery.
Etienne is shattered.
“I try every day not to break down,” she said, crying. “But I know them. I know he would never hurt his brother.”
Stephan called his mother twice from Rikers on Wednesday. Each time Etienne hears his voice she feels a little relief.
“Everybody knows what goes on in prison,” she said. “He told me please tell my brother I love him.”
Before the shooting, Stephan was hoping to join the Marines. Riccardi was unemployed and still planning his future.
“Putting Stephan away is not going to solve anything,” Etienne said. “I know that he already is dying inside because he knows his brother is in (the hospital). He is definitely not a criminal.
“I know they love each other. I would never choose one over the other.”
