Charges: Minneapolis man confessed to killing ex-girlfriend after court ordered him to stay away

A man is charged with fatally shooting a woman outside her Minneapolis home, three weeks after a court ordered him to stay away after he allegedly pistol-whipped her.

David Eugene Wright, 50, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree murder and illegal gun possession in connection with the killing Sunday of Mariah Rosanna Samuels, 34, in the 1400 block of Russell Avenue N.

Wright, of Minneapolis, was arrested Monday in Anoka and remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a court appearance Wednesday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

According to Tuesday’s charges and police:

Calls to 911 sent officers to the home about 7:50 a.m. where they saw Samuels on the ground near an open SUV door. Emergency medical responders arrived and declared Samuels, who was shot multiple times, dead at the scene. The officers found 15 discharged cartridge casings nearby.

A witness in an upstairs bedroom of his home told police he heard five gunshots, someone screaming, and still more gunfire. He looked out his window and saw Samuels on the street with one leg partly inside the SUV.

The witness said he saw someone who appeared to be removing items from the SUV including a bicycle, on which the shooter fled. Another witness reported seeing the shooter struggle to pull Samuels out of the SUV. He tried in vain to drive off, then turned to the bike instead.

Samuels’ sister told police that the two of them spoke on the phone a few hours before the shooting. The sister reported that Samuels texted her to say Wright was violating the order for protection with texts saying he was upset that she was seeing another man.

Under police questioning in jail, Wright said, “‘I’m not going to fight this situation. ... This is not going to be a hard-fought case.’” He also encouraged police to read text messages between him and Samuels so they would understand why he killed her.

On Aug. 26, Samuels petitioned the court for an order for protection from Wright for herself and her 11-year-old son, and the request was quickly granted. The filing alleged a harrowing sequence of events in the wake of Samuels breaking up with Wright by phone. He received a copy of the petition on Aug. 29, court records show.

Wright, seeing that Samuels was not home on Aug. 21, “called me [while] outside my home to drop off a gift,” her account began. He then threatened in texts to blow up the house, where her father also lives, the filing continued.

He tracked her to a home a couple of blocks away, where Samuels was dropping the son off, met her outside and struck her in the face and elsewhere with a gun and his hand, the petition read.

She added the encounter left her with a knot on her head, scratches and bruises.

The County Attorney’s Office, said Minneapolis police did not forward a case for consideration of charges stemming from the alleged August assault.

Police spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten said Tuesday that while the assault investigation remains “open and active, [Samuels] did not wish to pursue criminal charges.”

Parten added that a police liaison reached out to Samuels and “assisted [her] with the order for protection and talked about a safety plan.”

Along with Tuesday’s charges, court records in Minnesota show that Wright has three convictions for illicit drugs, two each for aggravated robbery, property damage, check forgery and misdemeanor assault, and one each for identity theft, contempt of court, disorderly conduct and illegal weapon possession.