A woman in Florida has been accused of murder after surveillance footage recorded her allegedly shooting the father of her children as he arrived to pick them up from daycare the previous week.
As per an arrest report, deputies from the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office responded to Aunt Lili’s Daycare in Starke, finding Christopher Jones, 37, severely bleeding from what seemed to be multiple gunshot injuries. Jones was able to identify his shooter as Mindy Osteen, 34. Osteen remained at the scene and approached the deputies, stating, “I’m right here y’all. I done it in self-defense.”
Jones was taken to a hospital, where he died.
The deputies reviewed footage from the daycare’s surveillance system, which showed Jones arriving at the facility about 15 minutes before 4 p.m. to collect his two children. Osteen arrived roughly three minutes after he did, positioning herself between the front steps and Jones’ vehicle.
The daycare owner escorted the children out, and Osteen embraced them. Jones, following close behind, started loading their belongings into his car and fastening them into their car seats before entering the driver’s side of his vehicle. Osteen stood nearby, observing.
While Jones was seated in the car, Osteen extracted a gun from her backpack and discharged three bullets at him, then followed with three more. Jones screamed, exited the car, and Osteen pursued him, firing additional shots. She chased him around the car until he sought refuge in the daycare building, entering the first door. He was trapped between that door and a locked second door.
Osteen fired another set of three bullets at him, and Jones stopped making any noise. The video captured his moans while the children, still inside the car, were heard screaming.
Osteen walks to Jones’ car, trying to clear an apparently malfunction on her gun. She is heard saying, “Please let the monster die.”
She walks back and forth between where Jones is and the vehicle, then walks up to Jones and says, “You got to die, Chris. You can’t kill [redacted].” Jones asks for help, Osteen repeats that he “can’t kill [redacted],” and Jones replies “I’m not killing anybody.”
Osteen exits the entry way and returns to Jones’ vehicle while a witness and and a deputy arrive on scene.
Osteen has been charged with first degree murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and grand theft of a firearm. She’s being held without bond, according to jail records.
