Inset: David Eugene Wright (Hennepin County Jail). Background: The Minnesota street where Wright allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend (Google Maps).
A 50-year-old man in Minnesota has been arrested for allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend just a few minutes after the victim posted on Facebook that he had been stalking her.
David Eugene Wright was taken into custody on Sunday and charged with one count of second-degree murder with intent and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in the slaying of 34-year-old Mariah Rosanna Samuels, court records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers with the Minneapolis Police Department responded to a call about a shooting at a residence in the 1400 block of Russell Avenue North at 7:53 a.m., with the caller reporting that “roughly 12 gunshots had been fired.” Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located an adult female — later identified as Samuels — suffering from what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds to her chest and torso. She was lying on the ground near the opened driver”s-side door of a Jeep Compass.
Paramedics arrived shortly after police and pronounced Samuels dead at the scene.
Investigators soon found that Samuels recently filed a petition for protection from Wright, stating she had ended the relationship with him on Aug. 21, immediately making her the target of his ire.
“Later that evening, [Wright] began threatening her and arrived at a residence where she was dropping off her child,” the affidavit states. “When the Victim exited the residence, [Wright] approached her with a firearm in hand, yelled at her, and struck her in the face and upper body with the weapon. He pushed her against a fence and attempted to grab her throat with his free hand. [Wright] threatened to shoot the Victim and to break her vehicle windows with the firearm. In her petition, the Victim expressed extreme fear and stated she took [Wright’s] threats seriously.”
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Investigators said surveillance footage from the scene showed the suspected shooter matched Wright’s description.
A witness told police he was in an upstairs bedroom that morning when he heard “an initial five gunshots, followed by a pause, someone screaming, and then another round of gunfire.”
“He looked out his window and observed the Victim lying on the street with one leg partially inside her vehicle,” the affidavit says. “He saw an individual standing next to the vehicle who appeared to be removing items from the Jeep. The individual then moved from the driver’s side to the passenger side and retrieved a bicycle. The witness observed the suspect riding away on the bicycle while holding a firearm. He stated that the male appeared to examine the firearm before placing it into his right pocket.”
A second witness said he also heard the initial five gunshots and looked out the window to see “a male with shoulder-length dreadlocks, wearing a long-sleeve shirt, open the Jeep’s driver-side door and shoot the Victim at point-blank range multiple times.”
Wright was further implicated by the victim’s own words.
In a post to Facebook at about 7:45 a.m. that morning, Samuels accused Wright of “stalking” her.
“I was trynna stay silent but stalking me at 4 in the f—ing morning and the police ain’t doing shit or did a [motherf—ing] thing beside serve him a protective order and clearly it’s not doing s— G! F— this!
Eight minutes later, police were responding to Samuels’ fatal shooting.
When brought in for questioning and shown a photo of the victim, Wright allegedly said, “I’m not going to fight this situation.” A short while later, police say he stated, “This is not going to be a hard-fought case.”
Wright is currently being held in the Hennepin County Jail without bond. He is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Wednesday afternoon.
