A bloody trail led police to the basement staircase of a St. Paul home as they looked for a woman who never showed up to pick up her child from day care Friday evening.
They found Jessica Williams, a 27-year-old mother, lying motionless at the bottom of the stairs with a shirt covering her face.
Williams was carried there, they later learned, by her boyfriend, Shakee Shabazz Miller-Brantley, after he gunned her down in the hallway during an argument in the Frogtown home, court documents say.
The garment was placed over her face so neither he nor her two other children who were home at the time would have to look at her, he reportedly told officers.
Although the 28-year-old initially denied any involvement in her death, Miller-Brantley eventually admitted to shooting Williams, telling police a heated argument and fear for his own safety set him off.
Williams had been “running her mouth” that day and “put him out” for no reason, Miller-Brantley reportedly explained to police. Then she wanted the gun back that she bought for him, threatening to call police or kill him if he failed to turn it over, he told officers.
Williams was holding a bag at the time and Miller-Brantley was worried it contained another gun, he said.
Scared, he pulled out the .22-caliber handgun he had with him and shot Williams five or six times as she backed away from him, he told officers, according to the criminal complaint charging him with intentional second-degree murder in Williams’ death.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office filed it against him Monday morning.
Miller-Brantley told officers “he didn’t want to (shoot her), but she kept talking to him like he was a kid,” the complaint said.
Later adding, “This is the girl if I don’t kill her first she’s gonna kill me …,” according to the charges.
He admitted that he never found a gun inside the bag when he checked it after he shot Williams, the complaint said.
He said he cried after she collapsed on the floor because “he felt bad,” according to the charges.
Police arrested Miller-Brantley on Saturday after one of the children in the home said he had lived with the family for a few months.
They found him at his mother’s house in St. Paul along with a .22-caliber handgun in a kitchen drawer and a pair of shoes with what appeared to be blood on the tread. The tread matched footprints left in the trail of blood inside Williams’ house, the complaint said.
After initially telling officers that he hadn’t seen Williams since she broke up with him the day before, Miller-Brantley admitted to the fatal shooting, the complaint said.
He said the couple had been dating since meeting at school about five months ago.
His mother told police her son suffers from schizophrenia and that he hadn’t been taking his medication.
Williams’ sister said Miller-Brantley was mad at her sister for breaking up with him at the time of the shooting.
Police were called to the home on the 500 block of Charles Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Friday after Williams didn’t show up to pick up her child from day care. The provider called the woman’s emergency contact and asked her to pick up the child in Williams’ absence.
The door was locked when the woman arrived at Williams’ house, so she contacted Williams’ two older children and asked them to let her in.
When they came to the door, they said they didn’t know where their mother was, the complaint said. The woman called police when she noticed blood in the kitchen leading toward the basement door.
Police pronounced Williams dead at the scene.
The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office determined she died of blood loss from five to six gunshot wounds to her scalp, neck and upper extremities.
Miller-Brantley has three prior felony convictions, including first-degree aggravated robbery, fourth-degree assault and financial transaction fraud.
He was also convicted of misdemeanor-level domestic assault in 2011.
The three children, who range in age from 4 to 12 years old, are staying with someone close to the family, police said.
None of Williams’ relatives could be reached for comment.
Miller-Brantley’s next court hearing is scheduled for April 2. His bail was set at $1 million.