Crime & Safety
Father, Boxer Hoped To Go Pro Before Fatal Odenton Shooting: Reports
The Odenton fatal shooting victim was a dad and a boxer hoping to go professional. He won a national tournament weeks before he was killed.
![Odenton boxer Isaiah Olugbemi, 27, won the Golden Gloves of America tournament last month before he was fatally shot Monday in Anne Arundel County.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/shutterstock/24287450/20240621/125448/styles/patch_image/public/shutterstock-1020230983-1___21123718519.jpg)
ODENTON, MD — The man fatally shot this week in Odenton was a father and a boxer hoping to go professional.
Odenton man Isaiah Oludayo Olugbemi, 27, had just won a national tournament last month.
Olugbemi traveled to Detroit in mid-May, where he won five straight bouts to claim the Golden Gloves of America crown in the 203-pound class.
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Boxing publication The Ring reported Olugbemi had a record of 15-7 since his June 2022 debut.
"On the amateur level, to take a fighter from knowing nothing from day one when he walked in the gym to three years later, having him win the national Golden Gloves Championship, his coach is devastated," gym owner Christen Jeter told WJZ.
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The killing came two days after Olugbemi competed in what was supposed to be his last amateur bout before turning professional, The Ring said.
Olugbemi's death was "horrible news" for Jake Smith, a promoter for Saturday's inaugural Baltimore Boxing Hall of Fame event at Columbus Gardens in Nottingham.
"He was a good guy," Smith told The Ring. "Had a future not only in boxing but in life."
NBC Washington reported that Olugbemi had a 2-year-old son.
"I just want people to know that my brother was a great father, a great man," Daniel Olugbemi told NBC. "He just wanted to be nothing but a great boxer."
The victim's sister, Rebecca Olugbemi, told NBC that her brother always checked in on loved ones.
"He always looked out for everyone," she told NBC. "He was just a hard worker. Anything that he wanted, he went after it."
Highlights from the victim's boxing career are posted on his Instagram profile.
Officers announced Tuesday evening that they arrested 36-year-old Nicholas Francis Xavier Giroux of Odenton in the case.
Authorities said Giroux was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder.
The Olugbemi family told NBC Washington and WJZ that Giroux was the victim's neighbor.
Relatives said Giroux had confronted them before the shooting, NBC Washington reported.
The Olugbemi family alleged to WJZ that Giroux threatened the victim at least two other times with a gun this year. Relatives also told WJZ that Giroux had cocked a gun but didn't fire in the last encounter before the shooting, but no arrests were made.
Court records show that Judge Sidney Allen Butcher on Thursday held Giroux without bond. He has a preliminary hearing in Annapolis on July 17.
Police said they were called Monday to Meadowmist Way and Stehlik Drive around 9:45 p.m. They noted that several residents reported hearing multiple gunshots outside.
Officers said they found the victim on the ground suffering from at least one gunshot wound in the 500 block of Meadowmist Way. That's located in the Lions Gate community.
Authorities said medics took the victim to the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was later pronounced dead.
Related:
- Neighbor Charged With Murder In Fatal Odenton Shooting: Reports
- Man Killed In Targeted Odenton Shooting: Police
This map shows the area where the Anne Arundel County Police Department said the shooting happened.
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