Charges: Minneapolis murder suspect shot sex worker ‘because she had my $30’

A man accused of killing a woman in his Minneapolis apartment told investigators he shot her because she tried to leave with his money without performing the sex work he hired her for, court records show.

Raymond Lewis Jones, 65, faces two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deadly shooting on Wednesday evening.

According to a criminal complaint, police responded to a reported shooting at Jones’ apartment on the 2600 block of West Broadway Avenue around 5:45 p.m. Dispatchers noted that Jones said he had shot a woman who had allegedly pulled a knife on him.

Police noted the apartment was filled with clutter and there was only a narrow path wide enough for one person between the living room and the front door.

Lying on the ground in the living room was the victim, a 42-year-old woman, who had been shot in the chest and was not moving or breathing. According to the complaint, she held a folding pocket knife with the tip pointed at the ceiling. Two other knives were on the ground, as was a handgun sheathed in a black sock.

Medics pronounced the victim dead at the scene. She has yet to be publicly identified.

Investigators spoke with Jones, who said he had met the victim for the first time earlier that day. Jones said he encountered her on Franklin Avenue and picked her up for sex work because she “seemed like good people.”

Jones explained that when it came time to have sex, he experienced discomfort and told the woman that the situation “wasn’t working.” He claimed the woman took the $30 he left on the table for payment and walked toward the door.

According to the complaint, Jones said he confronted the woman when he realized the money was missing and that’s when she pulled a knife on him. Jones said he grabbed two other knives and blocked her way out of the apartment before the standoff escalated to a physical struggle. He said at some point, a gun was drawn and “went off.”

Charging documents indicate Jones changed his story several times about how the gun entered the picture.

At first, he claimed it belonged to the victim. Then he admitted it was his, but he usually kept it in his oven and wasn’t sure how she found it. At last, he said he was the one who pulled the trigger. Still, he maintained he fired the gun in the middle of a scuffle and didn’t know how it got into his possession.

Police asked Jones why he didn’t let the victim leave his apartment. “Because she had my $30,” he replied.

During Jones’ first court appearance Friday morning, a judge set his bail at $1 million. He remains in custody at the Hennepin County Jail.
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