ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged a 26-year-old man Tuesday with murdering his ex-girlfriend and her two children in their home in St. Paul, Minnesota over the weekend.
Tekeith Jones has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of 30-year-old D’Zondria Wallace and her two children 14-year-old La’Porsha Wallace and 11-year-old Ja’Corbie Wallace.
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According to the charges, St. Paul police responded to a 911 call at the family’s home on the 700 block of Jessie Street around 3 p.m. Saturday and found three people who had been shot.
La’Porsha was lying in front of the front door and D'Zondria lying face down on the couch. Neither was concious or breathing. They were both pronounced dead at the scene. D’Zondria had been shot twice and La’Porsha had been shot 10 times, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner determined.
Ja’Corbie was found lying face down on the floor. He was not conscious, but he was breathing and "making a gurgling noise," the charges say. He had been shot five times.
First responders asked Ja’Corbie who had shot him and he replied, "Keith," who he indicated was his mother’s boyfriend. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died several hours later.
Several family members also identified Jones as D’Zondria’s ex-boyfriend, according to the charges. Her nephew told investigators Jones continued to go to the family’s house a lot after they broke up. In December, he reportedly broke into the house through the kitchen window and "swung [D’Zondria] around." The following day, he got upset and shot at her, but missed.
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Surveillance video showed a man "peeking outside" the family’s Jessie Street home about half an hour before the bodies were discovered. He went back inside and then ran out of the house and left in a silver Jeep.
Police arrested Jones on Sunday at an apartment about four miles away from where the murders occurred. Jones eventually admitted to shooting and killing all three victims. He told investigators he did not know why he killed them, but he "saved them."
"Jones said he’s not a monster and that he kissed them all…Jones said he was just trying to break the cycle and did not want them to feel the pain that he felt," the charges say.
Jones will make his first court appearance Tuesday morning via Zoom.
"My heart sinks to know that a mother and her two children were taken from us in such a senseless and violent way," Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement. "We will do everything in our power to bring justice to the victims and our community in this case."
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office shared the following domestic violence prevention resources:
- The Saint Paul & Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 24 hour crisis line
- Women’s Advocates 24/7 crisis line
- Tubman Crisis Line and Safety Plan
- Statewide domestic violence resource sheet from the Minnesota District Court
- View a comprehensive report on intimate partner violence from Violence Free Minnesota