Charges: Man shot ex-girlfriend outside Lakeville daycare
LAKEVILLE, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 32-year-old Richfield, Minnesota man has been charged after he allegedly shot and killed his ex-girlfriend outside a daycare facility in Lakeville earlier this week, according to the Dakota County Attorney's Office.
Atravius Joseph Weeks has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 29-year-old Cortney Grace Henry.
According to the criminal complaint, at 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, Belle Plaine police officers responded to a reported order of protection violation at an apartment complex in the 500 block of Elk Street. A woman told officers her ex-boyfriend, Weeks, was pounding on the walls of her building, had a gun and that she believed she would die if he got inside. During her 911 call, she said he sent her a message saying he had shot himself.
When police arrived at the parking lot, they found Weeks' car, which had a large amount of blood inside as well as a 9mm casing on the floor, the charges state. They followed a trail of blood to a utility room of the apartment building, where a door handle appeared recently broken, and noticed a card reader at building's back entrance had been ripped off the wall.
After police spoke with Weeks on the phone, he agreed to come back to the parking lot and drop his gun. Weeks' forehead and clothes were covered in blood. He told police he shot himself in the head and that he "just killed [his] best friend," the charges state. He admitted that about an hour earlier he shot Henry seven times outside of a daycare in Lakeville near 203 Street and Icefall Trail.
The woman who initially called 911 for the incident at the Belle Plaine apartment told police she learned on June 16 that Weeks and Henry had broken up, according to the charges.
Police immediately responded to the daycare in Lakeville, where they found Henry dead in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers also found nine shell casings. Neighbors told police they heard gunshots around midnight.
At a court appearance on Thursday, a Dakota County judge set bail with conditions at $2 million. Weeks will have his next court appearance on July 1.