Mother, son slain in south Minneapolis

His wailing 18-month-old daughter in tow, Joseph Williams banged on his neighbor's door in desperation Thursday morning.

Williams told the neighbor that his longtime girlfriend's face and throat had been "sliced" and her young son lay face down in a pool of blood inside their south Minneapolis duplex.

"Is this really happening? Is this true?" Williams told the neighbor, who declined to give his name out of fear for his safety. "I think they're dead. I think they're dead."

The neighbor called police to the 3600 block of 1st Av. S. They promptly declared the gruesome scene a double homicide and said it's too early to tell how the victims were killed.

The victims' identities were not officially released Thursday, but friends say the woman is Katricia Daniels, 36, and her 10-year-old son, Robert Shepard, who had completed the fourth grade at Kenny elementary school on Wednesday.

No arrests had been made Thursday night. They were the city's third and fourth homicides this week alone -- all on the South Side. They brought the city's homicide total to 17 so far this year.

"This was a vicious murder," said Lt. Amelia Huffman, head of the homicide unit. She said several investigative teams are working on the case in a "very thoughtful, deliberate and meticulous" manner.

Friends of Daniels disputed an account they said they heard from police at the scene Thursday: that the killings might have been related to a drug deal.

"No, she changed her life," said a friend, Vallery Murdock of Minneapolis.

Murdock and other friends said they believe Daniels and her son may have known who killed them. "That's why they didn't kill the baby," Murdock said. She said Williams found the girl in a bedroom crying with blood on her shirt.

Police wouldn't comment on the theory but said neighbors shouldn't be panicked by the events.

"It's too soon to make any definitive statements," Huffman said. "We're examining a number of scenarios. We're just trying to find the killer."

Williams is cooperating with police, Huffman said. He discovered Daniels and her son after arriving home from his overnight job shift in Lakeville shortly after 7 a.m., said his friend and co-worker Travis Williams.

Neighbors reported that two hooded strangers were seen running through the back yard of the duplex overnight, and one neighbor heard several shots fired just before 4 a.m., but it's not clear if they were connected to the killings.

Neighbors watched from behind yellow police tape as investigators and officers combed the area. A film crew from the A&E reality crime series, "The First 48," documented the scene.

"It's crazy that someone would just [kill] a mom and a son," said Yummy Kensey, a neighbor whose own 10-year-old son, Dewey, played football with Robert and had recently shared a sleepover at his house.

Kensey described Daniels, a mother of four, as a "real nice lady," and Robert as "a good kid." Robert and his baby sister lived with Daniels in Minneapolis while her teenage son and daughter, who just graduated from elementary school, live in Chicago, friends said.

A classmate of Robert's at Kenny elementary, Wayne Veasey, 11, said Robert was his best friend. Wayne and his little brother, KeVon, 8, came to the scene after their father, Wayne Veasey Sr., explained to them what had happened.

"When I told him his best friend was killed, he smiled and sort of gave me a 'Stop playing with me' look," Veasey said of his oldest son. "When I brought him over here, that's when it really hit him. It's devastating."

"Lil'" Wayne said Thursday that he had planned to spend the first day of summer vacation with Robert either playing basketball or video games at his house.

"It hurts," said the teary-eyed boy, who slumped into the arms of his older brother, Deondre Hirocho, 17.

The area had been calm the past few years, said Diana Schleisman, a block club leader one block down from where the murders occurred. She heard five gunshots in the area around 3:50 a.m. There was a pause and then six more, she said.

Schleisman said she was "absolutely surprised" by the killings.

The Associated Press and Star Tribune staff writers Tim Harlow and Paul Walsh contributed to this report. Terry Collins • 612-673-1790