WOONSOCKET – A Glocester man who shot his father to death in Plaza Village in 2021 – in self-defense, a judge ruled – talked about the homicide as he threatened to kill his girlfriend with a knife on Sunday, police say.
Alex M. Cote, 25, of 1 Sherman Lane, is charged with felony domestic assault, domestic vandalism and domestic disorderly conduct in connection with the latest incident.
According to police reports, a 28-year-old woman came to Woonsocket police headquarters hours after the alleged assault to report that Cote, her boyfriend for about six months, burst into a violent, lurid rage when she asked him to leave her home at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, July 23. She said he brandished a knife with a blade about six inches long and threatened to kill her in front of her children so they could watch her, “bleed out,” a police report says.
“I killed my on (sic) dad and have nothing to lose I will kill you two (sic) and not think twice about it,” Patrolman Logan Courtemanche’s report quotes Cote as saying.
During the outburst, Cote also stabbed his girlfriend’s TV set and urinated on her bed, she told police.
But his menacing behavior hardly ended when he voluntarily left her apartment a short time later.
Throughout the course of the day, Cote allegedly continued texting and threatening the victim. In one of the digital missives, he allegedly told her, “I’d rather have you beat up.” Then he added, “Lol nah you just gonna get your head stomped in like he got and we gonna be out,” in another apparent reference to his father’s untimely demise.
Cote was picked up by the Glocester Police Department and turned over to the city police about midnight Monday – at which point he allegedly continued eliciting angry, violent invective toward his girlfriend.
As he was being booked at Woonsocket police headquarters, Cote blurted out, “”I wish I (expletive) beat her ass so I could go to jail for a real reason,” according to Patrolman Brett Mattson’s report.
The city police charged Cote with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his father, Adam Castonguay, 43, on April 15, 2021 at Castonguay’s home in Plaza Village, where Cote was a frequent visitor.
Following a jury-waived trial that took place the following October, however, Associate Superior Court Judge Daniel Procaccini found that Cote was innocent of the crime because he was in danger of death or imminent harm when he fired the handgun. Procaccini said the evidence showed that Cote had acted in self-defense during a physical altercation in which Castonguay was choking his son.
Cote had obtained the weapon, a .22-caliber Ruger, months earlier after a running feud with another man, according to trial testimony.
Cote is now free on $10,000 secured bond, or $1,000 cash, pending the resolution of the new charges against him, the judiciary’s web site says. Another hearing was set for Monday, Oct. 30 in Sixth District Court.
Follow Russ Olivo on Twitter @russolivo
The logic of him being allowed out on bail eludes me.
Wow! Amazing failure of our legal system!