‘I replay it in my mind’: Man haunted by memories of killings at Lincoln apartment complex

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Last March, Robert Sargent watched as a vehicle ran over two of his friends at an apartment complex in Lincoln.

Then, he said he had to run for his own life, too.

March 27 started as any normal day.

Sargent went to work at The Lodge apartments near 40th Street and Nebraska Parkway.

After lunch, he said he saw one of his co-workers arguing with Taylor Bradley.

SEE ALSO: Woman charged in Lincoln double homicide deemed competent to stand trial

He tried to help and thought things had been smoothed over, so he went inside to talk to his boss about it.

Sargent said his boss watched Bradley run over 45-year-old Ronald Gonzalez-Ribas.

“That’s when my boss let out a scream,” he said. “And I knew by the scream that something pretty serious had happened.”

He ran outside, which is when he said Bradley hit 42-year-old Christopher Karmazin.

“I saw bodies break in ways that they’re just not supposed to be,” Sargent said. “I’ve never witnessed anything like that before. Hopefully, never again.”

SEE ALSO: Victim of Lincoln’s double homicide came to the U.S. to flee violence in El Salvador

He said Bradley turned around and ran them over again before backing up to drive at him.

“I don’t know if I can really tell you what was going through my head at the time other than: Run,” Sargent said.

He took cover behind a tree until he could get back in the building.

Both Karmazin and Gonzalez-Ribas were pronounced dead at the scene.

Bradley was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.

SEE ALSO: Victims of double homicide in Lincoln were struck by car ‘more than once,’ police say

Sargent said the day has haunted his memories for the past year.

“I replay it in my mind, over and over and over a lot, and I have nightmares a lot,” he said.

Parking lots make him nervous, to the point where he avoids walking in certain places.

“When cars drive by, I freak out,” he said. “I’m constantly looking over my shoulder.”

It got so bad that Sargent had to quit his job.

“Going back to the scene on a daily basis was probably one of the harder things I’ve had to do ever since then, and it really just took the heart away from me,” he said.

SEE ALSO: Charges upgraded for woman accused of running over, killing two Lincoln men

Bradley still has yet to go to trial as she undergoes another mental evaluation.

Her next court appearance is set for April.

Sargent hopes once it’s over, it will help him heal.

“I personally, in my opinion, think that a life in prison sentence is almost a little too light,” he said. “But then again, I don’t know all of the details of her mental instabilities or anything.”

SEE ALSO: Woman charged in Lincoln double homicide will use insanity defense

If she were to be released, Sargent said it would make him extremely anxious.

“Honestly, I want to do this interview, I want to do the court case, and then I never want to talk about it again,” he said.

What’s most important to Sargent now is keeping Karmazin and Gonzalez-Ribas in the forefront of people’s minds.

He’d like to put up a memorial for them.

“I’d stay up at night drawing sketches and things like that of how I thought we could do something here or something there,” he said.

SEE ALSO: Police identify victims of double homicide at south Lincoln apartment complex

Karmazin has a bench dedicated to his life at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo.

Sargent said he’d like to see something similar for Gonzalez-Ribas, or even something for both of them together.

“I got to know the two men so well that I feel like they would do it for me if it were the other way around,” he said. “It’s senseless, needless tragedies like this that make you just look at life a little bit different.”