Formal charges filed against 2 more people in Brooklyn Park murder case

Prosecutors have announced an update to a November 2022 Brooklyn Park murder case.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty provided new details Friday on the death of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever, who was shot last year at the Eden Park Apartment Complex.

Moriarty confirmed two more adults have been charged in the case, marking five total individuals allegedly involved with McKeever’s death. Two of the five are juveniles, who are 15 and 17 years old. The full news conference can be watched in the video above.

The two people newly charged are 24-year-old Tavion Michael Darnell James and 24-year-old Eriana Dewauna Haynes. James and Haynes are both charged with aiding an offender after the fact.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, police were called to the complex around 2:30 a.m. for a reported home invasion. When officers arrived, they found a door that appeared to have been forced open and a woman who had been shot multiple times.

A Brooklyn Park man, identified as Erick Dewaun Haynes, was charged with both intentional and unintentional second-degree murder. He allegedly gave the two teens a gun and told them to break into McKeever’s apartment and to shoot her boyfriend.

RELATED: 2 teens, Brooklyn Park man charged with murder in ex-girlfriend’s killing

Court documents state McKeever’s boyfriend was the one who called police and reported that two males in black hoodies had kicked in the apartment door. He was in the bathroom at the time but was able to jump out of a bedroom window to safety and call 911.

He told police that McKeever had been having problems with her ex-boyfriend and child’s father, identified as Erick Haynes. He added McKeever had mentioned Erick Haynes was harassing her by phone and in person for weeks and had followed her while she was in her car earlier the day before.

A criminal complaint states video footage from the apartment confirmed the boyfriend’s story and also showed a vehicle associated with Haynes at the apartment several times in the days before the shooting. Additionally, it caught two males fleeing from the complex just moments after the shooting.

According to court documents, Erick Haynes told police he was mad at McKeever over their relationship ending and her having a new boyfriend. He also admitted to going to her apartment with two teens — a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old — giving the teens a gun and telling them to beat up her new boyfriend. However, Haynes said nobody answered when he was there and he waited in the car while the two teens planned to kick in the door.

The teens implicated Erick Haynes in the incident, confirming that he had given them the gun and told them to shoot McKeever’s boyfriend. Court documents state that the teens claimed McKeever had a knife when they kicked in the door and the 15-year-old fired multiple shots at McKeever before they ran away to meet up with Haynes. During the shooting, the 17-year-old was shot in the leg.

Previously, Moriarty’s office said it had juvenile petitions out for the two teens and intended to file a motion to move the cases to adult court. Moriarty’s office now says both of the teens have agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with Erick Haynes’ prosecution, and they helped charge Eriana Haynes and James.

The new charging documents against Eriana Haynes and James state that they were the ones who dropped off the juvenile at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale. They then knowingly gave false statements to police about how the juvenile was shot, the documents state.

The documents note that James and Eriana Haynes are in a relationship, and Eriana Haynes and Erick Haynes are siblings.

Prosecutors add the 17-year-old recently entered a guilty plea, and the 15-year is expected to enter his plea on April 7. Both are expected to be held at the juvenile prison in Red Wing and both will be transferred to an adult state prison if they violate any terms of their sentences.

If you or a loved one is the victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help, 800-799-7233.