Donell Odell Jones booking photo (Hennepin County Jail)
A Minneapolis man is facing two counts of second-degree murder in relation to a shooting that left one man dead in 2024.
Court records state that on June 1, 2024, officers were called to the area of 34th Avenue North between James Avenue North and Knox Avenue North for a man lying on the ground next to his car with multiple gunshot wounds.
The man died at the hospital and was later identified as 25-year-old Malacai Bailey. An autopsy determined that Bailey suffered four gunshot wounds.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses reported hearing shots and seeing two men near Bailey’s car, who then ran away in a nearby alley.
Police recovered Bailey’s cell phone in the alley, and when searching his car, found two discharged casings on the back seat. A fingerprint from the car matched to Donell Odell Jones, 21, court records note.
Investigators found a text conversation on the phone between Bailey and another man, identified in court documents as L.T., about meeting up at 35th and Knox for a drug deal. L.T.’s phone number said that he was at the location, and about seven minutes later the shooting occurred, the complaint states.
On July 29, 2024, Jones was arrested for possessing a gun with an altered serial number as well as second-degree drug possession.
Then, on Aug. 10, 2024, the gun used in the shooting was recovered in a traffic stop, and in April 2026, testing confirmed that Jones’s DNA was on the gun.
Investigators spoke to L.T., who said he was working at the time of the shooting, which was also confirmed by his employer, but admitted to arranging the drug deal between Bailey and Jones, court records say.
On April 30, Jones was arrested and is now in custody at the Hennepin County Jail.
Jones is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday.
Courtesy of KTSP
