Inset: Shaniya Thompson (GoFundMe). Background: Police investigate Thompson”s death at an apartment in St. Paul, Minnesota (St. Paul police).
A Minnesota man allegedly killed his girlfriend during their daughter’s birthday party and then drove the girl and her siblings to Michigan before he fled to Canada, where he was ultimately arrested.
Wesley Koboi, 33, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the death of 29-year-old Shaniya Thompson in St. Paul. Cops responded around 4:15 p.m. Friday to an apartment complex in the 500 block of Broadway Street after a caller said a woman had been shot. They went inside and found Thompson dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Officers also found a gun inside the apartment.
Investigators believe Thompson was actually shot on Thursday. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, cops spoke with Thompson and Koboi’s daughter, who said she was in Michigan. When they asked her if her mom was OK, the girl replied, “I don’t know.” She stated her father had a gun and he kept saying it was an accident. The family had been having a birthday party for one of the kids when Koboi and Thompson started arguing.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Another child told detectives that Thompson and Koboi had been arguing before the incident and the suspect pulled out a “short” firearm and put it to the victim’s head, according to the complaint. Koboi allegedly ordered the kids out of the living room and to a bedroom. Shortly thereafter, they heard a loud “thud.”
Koboi then allegedly came to the bedroom and said they were leaving. He apparently drove them more than eight hours to a relative’s home — reportedly his mother’s — in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cops say Koboi then left and went to Port Huron, where he crossed the Sarnia Blue Water Bridge into Canada. He allegedly booked a flight to Mexico, but cops told local NBC affiliate KARE that Koboi was arrested Tuesday in Toronto.
Thompson’s family is devastated, especially since what was planned as a fun children’s birthday party devolved into an act of violence.
“He came into her home bearing gifts for my young niece’s birthday,” wrote Thompson’s sister Shayna Jason in a GoFundMe post. “All the while planning to shoot and kill my sister. While my nieces and nephews were there they heard gunshots and a scream.”
Jason wrote that her sister was a devoted mother to five children “whose lives have been forever changed.”
“These children witnessed the unthinkable, and now they are left not only grieving their mother but also facing trauma that no child should ever endure,” Jason said. “They will need counseling, care, and support as they try to heal. With Christmas so close, we are heartbroken knowing they may go without during what should be a time of love and comfort.”
Â
