By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-14 21:47:01 | Updated at 2025-01-18 07:52:28
3 days ago
A New Yorker hopped on a podcast before turning herself in to police after allegedly stabbing a woman in a neighborhood brawl.
Jasmin Thompson, 25, was arrested on Monday and charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with a violent altercation involving 20 people in Staten Island.
The gruesome event occurred outside a housing complex with multiple families involved. A mother named Jennira Roundtree, 43, was killed in the brawl, police confirmed.
Roundtree was stabbed numerous times on January 7 and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. She had a stab wound in her chest and a wound in her stomach from an umbrella.
Thompson turned herself in to the New York Police Department nearly a week later, but made sure to voice her innocence on LFTG Radio beforehand.
She was interviewed by podcaster Elliott Carterr and shared various videos of the incident with his listeners.
'In every video, you hear my mom screaming, they're beating me with a lock. They're beating me,' Thompson recalled.
Thompson claimed that the brawl broke out after Roundtree's son punched her little cousin in the face. She said that the group she was with arrived at the scene to talk to Roundtree about the incident.
Jasmin Thompson was arrested on January 13 and faces multiple charges in connection with Jennira Roundtree's death
Thompson appeared on a podcast to proclaim her innocence a day before she turned herself in
However, when she arrived outside of the housing complex, Thompson alleged that she was met with a less diplomatic response.
'When we go to the building over the area, they're swinging stuff at us. They didn't even talk,' she said on the podcast. 'As a mom, she wasn't being a mom,' Thompson added on Roundtree.
Thompson claimed that Roundtree and those she was with were swinging golf clubs at her.
'That's sad. You're picking up sticks, trying to beat somebody's mom with it,' Thompson added as she revealed her mom and sister were also involved in the brawl.
Thompson also claimed on the podcast that there were only four people she was with and Roundtree had 20 people with her. She said that she acted in self-defense and claimed that she picked up the bloody knife because she was 'scared' for her life.
However, friends of Roundtree's told a different story when questioned by local ABC affiliate, WABC News.
A friend told the outlet that Roundtree wasn't initially involved in the brawl and instead rushed outside when she discovered her daughter was in the middle of the dispute.
'She was being a mom, a momma bear,' another friend told WABC. The friends also told the outlet that an NYPD patrol car was already on the scene when Roundtree was stabbed.
'And by the time the rest of them came she had collapsed on the floor,' they told WABC.
The brawl took place in Staten Island, New York at the West Brighton Houses
Jennira Roundtree was killed in the brawl after sustaining stab wounds to the chest
Police responded to the scene and transported Roundtree to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead
Another relative told the New York Daily News that Roundtree had gone into the crowd to pull out her 13-year-old daughter when a knife penetrated her stomach.
'She only went outside to get her child in the house, only to find her child with a pack of more than a dozen girls on her. She tried to pull her child away and they all jumped her,' the relative said. The relative added that they speculated the clash originated on social media.
A police source echoed a similar story to the New York Daily News, telling the publication that Roundtree went outside to defend her daughter. They added that the dispute started with kids and escalated to include adults.
Roundtree's family and neighbors described her as a dedicated mother who worked as a security guard. They said that she cared for her neighborhood and wanted to help the kids in the community.
'Always walking around with a smile, always thinking about, "Oh how could we get some money together to barbeque for these kids so they're not out in the streets for the summer," "let's hold a barbecue every weekend,'' a friend told WABC.
The investigation into what transpired in Staten Island when Roundtree was killed remains ongoing
Thompson turned herself into police on Monday
Those involved in the brawl ran away before police arrived on the scene
Roundtree's mother told the New York Daily News that her grandchildren were distraught. 'She was my eldest daughter,' she told the publication. 'Just pray for the family.'
Thompson appeared in court on Monday, a day after the LFTG Radio episode was released. She faced charges at the Staten Island Criminal Courthouse and was escorted by her lawyer, Mario Gallucci.
'My client has maintained that the victim in the case targeted her and her family for the last few months over a Facebook war,' Gallucci told Dailymail.com.
'The victim ran a targeted campaign of violence and on the day of her demise she assaulted my client and my client's mother and sister with a golf club and a sock filled with locks. We look forward to our day in Court and believe that Ms. Thompson will be completely vindicated of these charges.'
Prosecutors argued that Thompson caused Roundtree's death and then fled the state. Thompson is being held without bail and is due back in court on Friday.
Police told Dailymail.com that the investigation remains ongoing and no further arrests in the incident have been made at this time.
