Jasmin Thompson was arrested on Monday and charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon after allegedly stabbing a woman during a large brawl in Staten Island.
Before surrendering to police, Thompson, 25, appeared on a podcast. The violent altercation, involving about 20 people outside a housing complex, resulted in the death of 43-year-old mother Jennira Roundtree, police confirmed.
The victim was stabbed multiple times on January 7 and died at a local hospital from chest wound and a stomach injury caused by an umbrella. Nearly a week later, the suspect surrendered to the NYPD after claiming her innocence on LFTG radio.
Speaking with podcaster Elliott Carterr, she shared videos of the incident with the listeners.
“In every video, you hear my mom screaming, they’re beating me with a lock. They’re beating me,” Thompson recalled. Thompson claimed the brawl began after Roundtree’s son punched her younger cousin, as reported by Daily Mail.
The suspect stated that her group went to confront Roundtree about the incident but was met with hostility upon arriving at the housing complex.
“When we go to the building over the area, they’re swinging stuff at us. They didn’t even talk,” she said on the podcast. “As a mom, she wasn’t being a mom,” Thompson added on Roundtree.
She claimed that Roundtree and her group attacked her with golf clubs during the altercation. “That’s sad. You’re picking up sticks, trying to beat somebody’s mom with it,” Thompson added as she revealed her mom and sister were also involved in the brawl.
On the podcast, Thompson claimed she was accompanied by only four people, while Roundtree had about 20 people with her. She stated she acted in self-defense and picked up the bloody knife out of fear for her life.
Friends of Roundtree offered a different account to WABC News, stating that Roundtree was not initially involved in the brawl. According to a friend, she ran outside after learning her daughter was caught in the middle of the fight.
“She was being a mom, a momma bear,” another friend told WABC. The friends also told the outlet that an NYPD patrol car was already on the scene when Roundtree was stabbed.
“And by the time the rest of them came she had collapsed on the floor,” they told WABC.
A relative told the New York Daily News that Roundtree was stabbed in the stomach while trying to pull her 13-year-old daughter from the crowd during the brawl.
“She only went outside to get her child in the house, only to find her child with a pack of more than a dozen girls on her. She tried to pull her child away and they all jumped her,” the relative said. The relative added that they speculated the clash originated on social media.
A police source confirmed to the New York Daily News that Roundtree went outside to protect her daughter after a dispute between children escalated into a fight involving adults.
Family and neighbors described Roundtree as a devoted mother and security guard who was deeply committed to her community and cared for local children.
Roundtree’s mother told the New York Daily News that her grandchildren were distraught. “She was my eldest daughter,” she told the publication. “Just pray for the family.”
Thompson appeared in court on Monday at the Staten Island Criminal Courthouse, a day after her LFTG Radio interview aired. She faced multiple charges and was accompanied by her lawyer, Mario Gallucci.
“My client has maintained that the victim in the case targeted her and her family for the last few months over a Facebook war,” Gallucci told Dailymail.com.
“The victim ran a targeted campaign of violence and on the day of her demise she assaulted my client and my client’s mother and sister with a golf club and a sock filled with locks. We look forward to our day in Court and believe that Ms. Thompson will be completely vindicated of these charges.”
Prosecutors accused Thompson of causing Roundtree’s death and fleeing the state afterward.
Thompson is being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
