Little girl wants ‘bad guy’ who killed her mother in Miami-Dade caught

NARANJA, Fla. – Detectives have yet to make an arrest in the murder of 24-year-old TSA Officer LeShonte Jones in Miami-Dade County. Her three-year-old daughter was injured during the shooting and thinks about her mother and the killer every day.

Darlene Dukes, Jones’ mother, said she has custody of her granddaughter who is still processing her memories about the shooting on May 3 at the Coral Bay Cove Apartments in the Naranja neighborhood. Dukes said the trauma runs deep.

“Every day she talks about the bad guy: What she wants done to the bad guy, why the bad guy won’t let the police get him, why the bad guy did that to my mommy,” Dukes said.

After a dark gray four-door Nissan sedan pulled up, a gunman jumped out and started shooting, police said. Jones died near the first-floor staircase. Her daughter was treated at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

“This has been the worst six months I have ever had to endure in my years of living,” Dukes said.

Dukes pointed to her angel pendant and said, “This little thing on my neck, every chance she gets, ‘Nana let me kiss my mama.’”

Dukes hopes a screengrab of surveillance video showing the shooter will motivate the killer to surrender or someone to speak up.

“Somebody knows who he is,” Dukes said.

Dukes said the family is planning to hold a ‘Celebration of Life’ at Goulds Park in Jones’ memory on Dec. 4, when she would have turned 25 years old.


About the Author:

Joseph Ojo joined Local 10 in April 2021. Born and raised in New York City, he previously worked in Buffalo, North Dakota, Fort Myers and Baltimore.