A Florida woman has been charged with murder after she was caught on video gunning down the father of her children as he picked them up from daycare last week.
According to an arrest report, Bradford County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Aunt Lili’s Daycare in Starke and found Christopher Jones, 37, “bleeding profusely from what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds.” Jones identified the person who shot him as Mindy Osteen, 34, who was still on the scene and eventually walked up to deputies and said, “I’m right here y’all. I done it in self defense.”
Jones was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Deputies reviewed the daycare’s surveillance video, noting that Jones arrived at the facility at about 15 minutes before 4 p.m. and enters the facility to pick up his two children. Osteen arrives about three minutes later and stands between the front steps and Jones’ vehicle.
The children exit the facility with the daycare owner, and Osteen hugs them. Jones follows behind and begins putting the children’s items into his car before securing them to their car seats, then gets into the driver’s seat. Osteen follows, watching.
As Jones is sitting in the vehicle, Osteen pulls a handgun from the backpack she’s carrying and fires three shots at Jones, then three more. Jones screams and gets out of the vehicle, while Osteen fires again. Osteen chases him around the vehicle until Jones runs to the daycare building and enters the front door. But the second door inside is locked, trapping him between the two doors.
Osteen fires three more shots at him and Jones stops screaming. On the video, he is heard moaning while the children, still in the car, are screaming.
Osteen walks to Jones’ car, trying to clear an apparently malfunction on her gun. She is heard saying, “Please let the monster die.”
She walks back and forth between where Jones is and the vehicle, then walks up to Jones and says, “You got to die, Chris. You can’t kill [redacted].” Jones asks for help, Osteen repeats that he “can’t kill [redacted],” and Jones replies “I’m not killing anybody.”
Osteen exits the entry way and returns to Jones’ vehicle while a witness and and a deputy arrive on scene.
Osteen has been charged with first degree murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and grand theft of a firearm. She’s being held without bond, according to jail records.
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[Featured image: Mindy Osteen/Bradford County Sheriff’s Office. Inset: Christopher Jones/GoFundMe]
