A Maryland father has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot his four-year-old son in the head, killing him, after the boy asked him to leave his mom’s bedroom during an argument.
Mark Jones, 30, fatally shot Jacobi Jones inside the family’s home in Rosedale on the morning of Christmas Eve, during a “domestic-related assault,” according to the Baltimore County Police Department.
Jones also allegedly shot the boy’s mother, Promyss Marcelle, and her one-year-old daughter, before attempting to take his own life.
Mark Jones, 30, allegedly shot his son and two others on Christmas Eve (Baltimore County Police Department)
Baltimore police arrived on the scene around 6:35 a.m. to find the woman and two children suffering from gunshot wounds. The three victims were transported to the local hospital where the boy was pronounced dead, BCPD officials said in a press release.
The shooting stemmed from an argument between the two adults, police said. Little Jacobi allegedly asked his father to leave the room during the fight, which led to Jones grabbing a gun from a backpack and shooting him in the head.
“Jones then began to load the handgun magazine with bullets,” according to charging documents obtained by CBS News. “[Their mother and] children were all in the bed. [The mother] then heard a ‘boom’ and felt the back of her shirt get wet, and she fell to the floor. She stated Jones then shot her son and then shot himself.”
A firearm registered to the suspect was found by police at the scene.
Jones survived and was taken into custody and is being held without bond, police said. He was charged with two counts of attempted first degree murder, child abuse and assault.
Jacobi’s mother told WBAL that the little boy had been excited to open his Christmas gifts before he was killed that morning.
“He kept trying to open the presents but I would tell him you’ve got to wait till Christmas,” Marcelle recalled. “And he never got to open those presents.”
“The agony and pain I feel is something [I] wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” the grieving mother wrote in a post of a GoFundMe campaign. “Grieving the loss of my son has been the most unbearable thing I’ve ever had to deal with.”
Marcelle created the fundraiser to raise money for the boy’s funeral expenses. It has raised just over $36,000 by Monday morning.
“On Christmas Eve at 6:30am myself, my one and only son, and my daughter were shot by the hands of their father,” she wrote. “I was shot in my head and am fortunate enough to be here to tell this story so is my 1yr old daughter who was shot in her shoulder. Unfortunately, my son who was shot in the head did not make it.”
Jacobi Jones, 4, had been excited to open his Christmas gifts but never got to (GoFundMe)
Marcelle revealed to CBS News that this is not the first time there had been domestic violence in her relationship with Jones, who she had been with “on and off for five years.”
Jones was previously charged with assault using a firearm in May 2023, according to court documents obtained by WMAR. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to probation before judgment.
Then in January 2023, a temporary restraining order was issued against Jones for domestic violence, but the charge was dismissed for unknown reasons several days later, WMAR reports.
“Even if you’re quote-unquote lonely, or you want to make your family, because some people don’t grow up with moms and dads, so they want to give their kid what they didn’t have, but it’s not worth it,” Marcelle told WBAL.
“I know it’s [easier] said, because anybody can say, ‘Hey, leave,’ you know, but you leave when you’re ready. But take my story, now that I was forced to leave, basically, I don’t have my son.”