Prosecutors have dismissed a case against a West St. Paul woman who was charged with child neglect after police responded to a report of shots fired inside her apartment building and found fentanyl pills on her kitchen floor.
The Dakota County Attorney’s office dropped the gross misdemeanor charge against 24-year-old Jazzlynn Jonell Humphrey last month, citing insufficient evidence. In a July 31 court filing, assistant county attorney Amy Schaffer said that upon a review of additional investigation after the criminal complaint was filed, “the State cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the children were present at the residence at a time when the alleged controlled substances and ammunition were present and accessible.”
Humphrey’s attorney did not immediately return a call Thursday for comment.
Police responded to the shots fired call at the apartment building in the 1070 block of Waterloo Avenue just after 7 p.m. Jan. 30. Officers spoke with a man who said he was in his second-floor apartment and heard a loud bang. He said he looked at his ceiling and noticed a small hole. He then saw a bullet lodged in his kitchen floor.
He told officers he believed the bullet was shot from the apartment directly above his, and that he has had noise issues with the person who lives there, the complaint said. He believed a woman, her two young children and a man live in the apartment.
Officers were unable to make contact with anyone in the third-floor apartment. They obtained a search warrant and summoned the SWAT team to assist “due to the serious nature of the call,” the complaint said.
While awaiting to execute the search warrant, Humphrey drove up to the apartment building. She “was not cooperative with officers and provided limited information,” the complaint said.
She said she left her apartment earlier in the afternoon and was just arriving back. She said she lives there with her 3-year-old child and her 2-month-old infant. She denied that a man lives with them.
During the search, officers found a plastic bag of pink pills on the kitchen counter. Blue pills were “scattered across the kitchen floor,” the complaint said. The pink and blue pills both tested positive for fentanyl. A Glock handgun case was on the kitchen table and unspent bullets were found in different areas of the apartment.
“Fentanyl is a highly dangerous drug, especially in close proximity to children,” the complaint said. “Small amounts of fentanyl could cause harm or death to children.”
Humphrey was charged Feb. 1 and released from the Dakota County Jail the same day with no bond amount and several conditions, including no use or possession of firearms or dangerous weapons, no use of alcohol or controlled substances, and random testing.
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