FARGO, N.D. — Tyrque Jones will no longer be released from Hennepin County.
He’s being extradited to Cass County on outstanding warrants, despite Fargo Police indicating in a press conference they weren’t aware of any open warrants.
Earlier in the day in a press conference, Christensen said he was not aware of any arrest warrants against Jones.
But hours later, it was announced there were actually warrants out for his arrest.
“In addition to the homicide warrant that has since been dismissed, Tyrque Jones was being held on other warrants as well and will be extradited to Cass County soon,” Captain Matt Christensen said. “He will be extradited on the charges of Terrorizing/Probation Violation, which is a separate matter from the homicide case.”
Christensen told Flag Family News, in a statement, that he was unaware of the warrants at the time of the press conference.
“It was an oversight on my part to not check on that information prior to the press conference,” he said. “Immediately after the press conference, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office confirmed with me that he did in fact have additional warrants he was being held on, and that they were going to be extraditing him back to Cass County.”
As of 3 p.m. Friday, Jones remained in custody at the Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis.
FARGO, N.D. – Fargo Police and the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office have dropped the charges against 20-year-old Tyrque Jones in the August killing of Azeem Holmes.
After his arrest in Minneapolis, Fargo Police detectives went to the Hennepin County Jail to interview Jones.
“We immediately worked to corroborate his account of his actions and compare it against the video evidence that we have, as well as other witness statements,” Captain Matt Christensen said. “That review process pointed us in a new direction and now leads us to believe that Mr. Jones is not the responsible party in the homicide of Azeem Holmes.”
Police are not saying what Jones told them in his interview, saying it ‘is very important that we do not negatively impact the integrity of this investigation.’
“Information we gathered from Mr. Jones’ interview will help us craft how we proceed with the investigation and interviews with other individuals we deem as important witnesses to this crime,” Christensen said. “Statements made in interviews are critical pieces of information, but we still need to corroborate them through reviewing evidence to ensure what is being told to us is accurate and truthful.”
The release comes as court records say there are warrants out for his arrest.
Those warrants stem from charges for relating to probation revocation in connection with a terrorizing charge last year, failure to serve a jail sentence and pay a fine in a driving under suspension case from March of this year and a resisting police officer case in July.
Christensen responded saying he’d have to look into that information further.
“I don’t know that he does have any current warrants out for his arrest that I’m aware of,” he said. “I’ll have to look into that. That’s new information for me.”
Video obtained from the scene is what was used to develop probable cause for Jones to be sought as the suspect in the crime – and was the same to be used to drop the charges.
“Based on the information we got from him, we re-evaluated the video,” Christensen said. “And based on his information from his actions, we were able to look at that video through a different lens and corroborate some of the information that he gave, which is what led to his release.”
FARGO, N.D. – Fargo Police has announced 20-year-old Tyrque Jones, who was a suspect in a deadly August 3 shooting in Downtown Fargo, will be released from the Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis.
The department said in a press release the decision was based on information received from interviews with Jones and more analysis of video related to the case. Police say information Jones gave investigators helped corroborate actions in the video and shift the investigation’s focus to another person as a potential suspect.
Fargo Police will hold a press conference on the investigation at 11:00 AM on Friday, December 5. It’ll be aired live on WDAY Radio on 970 AM and 93.1 FM, the WDAY Radio app and WDAYRadioNow.com.
MINNEAPOLIS – Tyrque Jones, who’s wanted in a deadly Downtown Fargo shooting in August was arrested by U.S. Marshals at a Minneapolis home around noon on Wednesday, December 3.
Fargo Police say the 20-year-old was taken into custody without incident and gave Marshals a fake name.
Law enforcement say officers surveilled areas in Minnesota, North Dakota and Arizona to find Jones.
Fargo Police is investigating how he was able to be on the run for four months and if any charges will be brought against anyone who may have tried to help him avoid police.
“We fully understand the frustration many of you may have felt with how long it’s taken us to locate Jones. I can tell you that we’ve felt that same frustration, but it didn’t deter our resolve to attempt to locate and apprehend Jones,” Fargo Police Captain Matt Christensen said.
Two detectives are one their way to Minneapolis to interview him and working on extraditing him to the Cass County Jail.
Fargo Police say Jones shot and killed 19-year-old Azeem Holmes of Fargo and injured two others outside District 64 in the 50 block of Broadway on August 3.
