Man sentenced to 30 years for cousin’s murder in parking lot of Newport Transit Center

A man received a sentence of more than 30 years for the murder of his cousin at a transit center in the east metro area nearly 1½ years ago.

Sylvester T. Jones, 39, of Newport was sentenced Tuesday in Washington County District Court to 30 years and seven months after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the shooting of 39-year-old Terrell E. McIntyre, of Coon Rapids, on Feb. 6, 2023, in an SUV in the parking lot of the Newport Transit Center.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Jones is expected to serve roughly 20 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

According to the criminal complaint and the sheriff’s office:

In response to a witness’ 911 call at about 10:30 a.m., deputies arrived at the transit center and saw McIntyre slumped over in the driver’s seat of an SUV. On the pavement were .22-caliber cartridge casings.

The witness said he saw a man, later confirmed to be Jones, leaving the area 20 minutes earlier, and surveillance video showed him walking toward Maxwell Avenue.

Additional surveillance video showed Jones get in the passenger side of the SUV and leaving 19 seconds later. Investigators tracked him to his home in the 1700 block of 1st Avenue, a few blocks from the shooting scene.

Jones was arrested about 10:30 p.m. and admitted to shooting his cousin. Investigators found a .22-caliber gun on a bedroom floor and several boxes of .22-caliber ammunition in the home.

Jones said he had exchanged text messages with McIntyre about meeting at the parking lot and that McIntyre was supposed to bring Jones to a Target store.