Background: News footage of the scene in Milwaukee, Wis. on Sept. 29 (WISN). Inset: Rae”Jianna Hall (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office).
A Wisconsin woman is charged with reckless homicide after police said she stabbed her cousin in the neck when he would not help her get a job at Taco Bell.
Rae’Jianna Hall, 19, remains behind bars in the Milwaukee County Jail after the Sept. 29 stabbing death of her cousin, 18-year-old Jaquveon Wright. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, an argument erupted between Hall and Wright in the early afternoon that allegedly escalated to threats before culminating in Wright’s death from a stab wound to the neck.
Police said that witnesses who watched the alleged incident unfold, including family members, told them that Hall wanted Wright to help her get a job at the Taco Bell where he worked.
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According to the criminal complaint, Wright lived with his family, his girlfriend, and Hall at the same duplex in Milwaukee. On the afternoon of Sept. 29, police responded to the scene after a 911 call placed by Hall, who told dispatchers that Wright was mad after “she spit on him” before he “ran up and hit her.” She allegedly admitting stabbing Wright in self-defense.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Wright outside, bleeding from a stab wound to the neck. He was pronounced dead after efforts were taken to try to save him.
Hall was read her rights and interviewed by police the same day. She told police that among the arguments she had with Wright that day, she was “mad” that her cousin was not helping her get a job at Taco Bell. Hall admitted to “pepper-spraying” Wright, and the two “went their separate ways” for a while.
Later, Hall said Wright came back into her room and she swiped at him with a knife, putting a hole in his shirt. She also claimed that Wright came into her room and “punched” her. During this alleged confrontation, Hall said she ended up cutting her own leg before she raised the knife over her head and stabbed Wright, who then ran out of the house.
Police said that surveillance video captured Wright running out of the house “with blood gushing from his neck” before he collapsed onto the ground.
Hall allegedly admitted that while she knew she could have killed Wright with the knife, she stated “that was not her intention.” She told police she was “scared,” but would not commit to saying whether the alleged stabbing was “accidental or intentional.”
When Wright’s mother was interviewed, she said she came home to find her son in the kitchen and Hall in a bedroom nearby, allegedly holding a knife with a 6- to 8-inch blade and saying to Wright, “I’m going to cut you.”
In her interview with police, Wright’s girlfriend said that around 2 p.m., Hall asked Wright to give her the number of the manager at the Taco Bell where Wright worked so she could apply for a job there. She said that she witnessed Hall’s numerous alleged threats and the pepper spray incident, and told police that it was “common” for Hall to threaten Wright, including a threat to “have people come up from Mississippi to fight” him. The girlfriend said she heard Hall say, “I’m going to stab you, I’m going to kill you” while “laughing.”
According to the complaint, she told police she saw Hall “swinging her fists” at her cousin, then seconds later saw “blood all over the walls” of Hall’s room.
Police arrested Hall and charged her with reckless homicide with enhancements for domestic abuse and the use of a deadly weapon. She remains in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail on $100,000 bond. Her next court date is scheduled for Oct. 14.
