St. Paul man arrested, charged in 2-year-old’s death

A St. Paul man has been arrested and charged in connection to a 2-year-old’s shooting death last week.

St. Paul Police said 39-year-old Earl Williams turned himself in to police on Christmas night. He’s been charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person in connection to the child’s death on Dec. 23.

Police also identified the child as Jayse Damir Wilson.

HOMICIDE UPDATE:

The 2-year-old boy shot and killed on Dec. 23 has been ID’d as Jayse Damir Wilson.

Earl Williams, 39, of St. Paul, turned himself in Christmas night, was arrested and charged with Manslaughter in connection with the death.

It’s the 34th homicide of the year.

— Saint Paul Police Department (@sppdmn) December 28, 2020

St. Paul Police open homicide investigation after 2-year-old shot and killed

St. Paul medics responded to an apartment on the 800 block of Rice Street at 1:12 p.m. on Wednesday on a report of a child suffering a head injury. When they arrived, medics found the 2-year-old had been shot in the head. Eight minutes after the 911 call, the boy died.

According to a criminal complaint, the boy’s mother told officers she received a frantic phone call from Williams, who was in her apartment, saying she needed to come home because the boy had shot himself in the head. Williams told the woman he’d left a gun in the bathroom and the boy "got to it," and that he was having one of her daughters call the police. When the woman called Williams back, Williams had left the apartment and then stopped answering future calls.

The woman told officers she doesn’t own a gun.

One of the boy’s sisters, who was at the apartment at the time of the shooting, told investigators she heard a loud bang when she was watching TV. When she went to check on her brother, Williams walked into the living room and told her to stay there. She said Williams was pacing and that he grabbed a blue bag and his jacket before telling the girl to call 911 as he left the apartment, the complaint states.

The girl estimated 10 minutes passed from the time she heard the gunshot to when Williams left. At that time, she checked on her brother and found him lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom. An operator then gave her and ger other siblings instructions for performing CPR, the complaint states.

The complaint also states that Williams was seen on surveillance video leaving. Authorities didn’t find a gun in the apartment.

It adds that Williams was believed to have fled to Iowa before he turned himself in.

According to the complaint, Williams has five prior felony convictions, including convictions for attempted armed robbery and aggravated sexual assault.

It’s the 34th homicide of the year in the city.

Williams made his first court appearance Monday morning. His bail was set at $250,000, and his next hearing was set for Feb. 18.