WASHINGTON, Jan 30, (AP): A Minnesota man was charged with murder Monday after authorities say he posed as a package delivery driver, entered a home and demanded money before he shot three people in the head, including at least one at point-blank range.
Alonzo Pierre Mingo, 37, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder, with intent, for Friday's killings in a suburban Minneapolis house, which authorities say happened as two children under the age of 5 were present. He’s jailed on a $5 million bond.
Mingo made his first court appearance on Monday and was denied a public defender. Online court records do not list an attorney and it was not immediately clear if he had one who could comment on his behalf. A man who confirmed he was Mingo’s brother hung up when reached by The Associated Press and asked about Mingo’s criminal charges.
Coon Rapids police said they received an emergency call to the home Friday. When they arrived, they found two dead men and a dead woman, all with gunshot wounds to their heads.
Video footage from outside the home showed three people leaving Mingo's car on Friday and entering the home, police said. Two dressed as delivery drivers, and one carried a cardboard box.
Footage from a home camera showed Mingo, dressed in a UPS-style uniform, lead a man at gunpoint into a bedroom where a woman and two children under the age of 5 were. Police said Mingo held the man and woman at gunpoint and demanded money, then led the group from the room.
He returned to the room with only the woman, then shot her at point-blank range.
"The older child can be seen entering the bedroom shortly thereafter, crying hysterically," Coon Rapids police wrote in a probable cause statement.
The younger child later tried to check on the woman, but the older child pulled them away and out of the room, according to the statement.
When officers arrived, they found one of the deceased men in the house's doorway, another was in an office. The woman's body was found in the bedroom.
Video shows Mingo and two other adults left the home seven minutes after entering it, the probable cause affidavit says. Police found Mingo driving the vehicle several hours later and arrested him.
The criminal complaint makes no mention of charges against the other two suspects who entered the home.