A personal care assistant allegedly left a loaded ghost gun in a 6-year-old’s room after he fired it multiple times at a neighboring property in Northfield.
Khaliq Amir Jones, 26, was charged with four felonies and two gross misdemeanors Wednesday in Rice County District Court. Jones’ legal residence is listed as Eagan, but the charges say he is the live-in boyfriend of the mother of the girl to whom he was a care assistant. The girl’s mother, Pearla Antonia Briones, 28, was charged with four crimes on Friday.
The charges stem from an investigation into bullet holes found on Oct. 17 in a garage on Bunker Drive in Northfield.
The resident reported finding holes in the front and back of his garage, as well as an exploded can. It appeared the bullet entered the garage in the back and went out the front, according to the court complaint.
The homeowner said he had heard gunshots the early morning of Oct. 15 and the Northfield Police Department also received other reports of gunshots heard that morning.
Police officers searched the resident’s backyard and found a bullet hole in the complainant’s camper and several bullet holes in a tree in the adjacent courtyard on Wilcox Boulevard W.
From the position of the holes it appeared the bullets were fired from the second floor of an adjacent residence across the courtyard, according to the charging complaint.
Officers obtained a warrant to search the residence on Oct. 20.
Inside the bedroom that Jones uses they reportedly found boxes of ammunition, a spent shell and a target with bullet holes.
In a backpack on the floor of the closet in the child’s bedroom agents allegedly found a loaded polymer 9 mm pistol. Shipping materials and receipts suggested the gun was ordered online.
“The pistol did not have a serial number on it and is considered a ‘ghost gun’ because separate individual parts were used to assemble at home,” the complaint states.
Officers also allegedly found a number of unassembled gun parts, including a suppressor, in the backpack, which was described as “easily accessible to a young child.”
When questioned, Jones allegedly said he bought the gun for protection. He allegedly admitted to shooting at a tree.
Jones is charged with felonies for reckless discharge of a gun within a city, damage to property, and illegal possession of a suppressor and a gun without a serial number. He’s also charged with gross misdemeanors for child endangerment and negligent storage of a gun.
Briones is facing two felony charges for possession of a suppressor and a gun without a serial number, and with two gross misdemeanors for child endangerment and negligent storage of a gun.
Jones and Briones both were issued a summons to make first court appearances on March 29.