A 25-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the murder of his girlfriend, her mother and her sister in a domestic dispute outside his Chicago home in June.
The suspect identified as John Matthews was held without bail on Friday afternoon, November 6 on three charges of first degree murder.
His girlfriend, 24-year-old Shonta Harris; her mother, 56-year-old Frances Neal; and her sister, 27-year-old Jasmine Neal, were all fatally shot.
Matthews and Harris had been dating for two years and had a 4-month-old son together, although they lived in separate houses.
After they spent the night together, Matthews asked Harris to cook for him, but she said no because she wasn’t feeling well.
He then told her to braid his hair, but she declined again with the same reason, which made Matthew erupt in rage, yelling and punching Harris in the eye.
Matthews‘ grandmother who was present then tried to intervene and led Harris outside in an attempt to defuse the situation.
According to Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy, the father of one however followed the pair and yelled that he hated Harris claiming she ‘doesn’t do it for him’.
Harris then called her own mother for help but Matthews snatched the phone from her and broke it. The grandmother let Harris use her phone to get help.
Frances Neal and her sister Jasmine Neal came to the house to pick Harris but Matthews also yelled at them to leave his property, refusing to let them inside to get the four-month old baby he and Harris shared.
Making little progress, Jasmine Neal decided to call police, saying that Matthews had given her sister a black eye and was refusing to hand over their son.
As the arguing continued, Matthews pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Frances Neal seven times and his girlfriend once in the chest.
Prosecutors say Jasmine Neal out of fear ran into the street, ‘running for her life with her hands up’ but Matthews chased her and shot her in the head.
Matthews’ grandmother then placed a second call to police as her grandson fled, identifying him as the shooter.
Unfortunately, Frances and Jasmine Neal were pronounced dead at the scene.
Harris was taken hospital where she gave police a videotaped statement where she identified Matthews as the shooter and also told them about past instances of violence.
He is said to have disabled her cellphone from calling the police on 28 occasions.
Harris passed away almost three months later on September 5 and her death was ruled a homicide.
Matthews fled to Iowa after the triple shooting and was only caught after getting into a car accident there in August. He was extradited back to Illinois this week on the murder warrant.
Assistant Public Defender, Rocio Armendariz, while in court said Matthews has no previous criminal history and had worked for Amazon.
Judge Charles Beach II ordered him to be held without bail on Friday on three counts of first-degree murder, stating that ‘his own flesh and blood has identified him as the shooter’.
