On October 10, 2020, six-year-old Doryan Bryant was killed in a shooting at a home in the 8800 block of Shannon Fox Circle in St. Louis County, Missouri. Her 40-year-old mother, Bernadetta Cooper, was also killed in the same incident. The violence began after a confrontation earlier that day; Joseph Jones, Cooper’s boyfriend of about eight months, was reportedly angry that the house was not tidy and the argument escalated.

Investigators believe Jones first shot Cooper and then shot at her children. One of Cooper’s other daughters fought back and may have prevented further deaths. Two other children were wounded but survived. When police arrived, Jones remained in the house; family members said he sat on the living room couch and smoked a cigarette. Authorities recovered a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol at the scene, and Jones, who had prior felony convictions, was taken into custody.

Jones, then 43, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and with first-degree assault and attempted first-degree assault; he was found competent to stand trial despite diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Does anyone have information about Doryan, her family, or the events that day?