In the Carr Square neighborhood of St. Louis, a domestic dispute on December 29, 2022, escalated into a fatal shooting that claimed the life of 35-year-old Jeffery Avant. Avant was visiting a woman, Deidra Prince, at her apartment in the 1800 block of Cass Avenue when Jeffery Lamonte Lumzy, the father of three of Prince's five children, arrived and demanded that Avant leave. An argument ensued between Lumzy and Prince.
Lumzy initially left the apartment but soon returned, forcing his way back inside by climbing over a back porch railing.
Once inside, Lumzy shot Avant once in the chest. As Avant lay wounded and pleading for help, Lumzy did not render aid or call for emergency services. Instead, he ordered Prince to get her children ready to leave with him. When Prince refused to let the children go without her, Lumzy forced her and the five children out of the apartment. His attempt to flee with them in Prince's rental car was thwarted by the intervention of a maintenance worker at the apartment complex. Lumzy then stole the car and fled the scene alone. Avant was transported to a local hospital by emergency responders, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Following the shooting, a manhunt for Lumzy was initiated. He abandoned the stolen vehicle in a supermarket parking lot and managed to evade capture by fleeing to Chicago. Several months later, in February 2023, law enforcement, including U.S. Marshals, located and arrested the 53-year-old suspect in Harvey, Illinois. He was subsequently extradited back to St. Louis to face charges.
Jeffery Lamonte Lumzy was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, unlawful possession of a firearm, stealing a motor vehicle, and armed criminal action. In February 2024, a jury found him guilty on all counts. Given Lumzy's extensive criminal history, which included prior convictions for burglary, stealing, forgery, and unlawful possession of a firearm, he faced a severe sentence. For the first-degree murder conviction, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
