A 20-year-old Minnesota man killed during a house invasion by a suspect dressed as a UPS worker was a kind and caring person who was home at the time of the attack only because he had an unexpected day off from work, friends said.
Jorge Reyes-Jungwirth lived with his mom, Shannon Patricia Jungwirth, and stepfather, Mario Alberto Trejo Estrada, in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. All three were shot to death last Friday just after noon local time, when a man wearing a UPS uniform came to their door and was able to get inside the home, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint. Two children under 5, who friends say were Reyes-Jungwirth’s siblings, were also at the house but they were not physically harmed, according to the court documents.
Reyes-Jungwirth worked long shifts at a tree removal company and normally would have been at work on a Friday afternoon, said Isaiah Mendez, a friend since sixth grade who joined the same company after Reyes-Jungwirth got him a job there last year. The night before Reyes-Jungwirth was killed, one of their bosses told him to take the following day off, Mendez said.
“He had texted Jorge on Thursday telling him that Friday was slow,” said Mendez, of South Saint Paul, Minnesota. “He definitely blames himself a little bit for what happened, but we all know that’s not how it is.”
“It’s very sad and super devastating,” he added.
Friends described Reyes-Jungwirth as deeply devoted to his family, always ready to help his mom with errands or care for his younger siblings. They said he loved anime, video games and playing sports, and doted on the puppy he had recently gotten.
“The way he treated humans was the same way he treated that puppy,” said Will Gydesen, of Mendota Heights, Minnesota, who has known Reyes-Jungwirth since the two played football together during freshman year of high school. “He always put everyone else before himself.”
Gydesen had played video games with Reyes-Jungwirth the night before his death and said his friend mentioned he was looking forward to his day off.
“He was telling us how happy he was he didn’t have work on Friday,” Gydesen said. “We didn’t think anything of it and then the next couple days, we weren’t hearing from him at all and we started to get a little suspicious.”
The suspect in Friday’s triple homicide, Alonzo Mingo, 37, was charged Monday afternoon with three counts of second-degree intentional murder. Prosecutors say security camera footage and audio from both inside and outside of the victims’ house show the suspect driving to the residence and going to the front door dressed as a UPS delivery worker. Once inside, the video allegedly shows him demanding money from Trejo Estrada and Jungwirth at gunpoint. It is not clear exactly how Mingo managed to enter the home.
The surveillance footage then allegedly shows Mingo shooting Jungwirth at point-blank range in the bedroom while the two young children are close by. The bodies of Trejo Estrada and Reyes-Jungwirth were discovered elsewhere in the house.
The motive for the shootings has yet to be determined. The Star Tribune reported on Monday that a search warrant affidavit tied to the investigation alleges that Trejo Estrada had been trafficking cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine and sending large amounts of money to Mexico. The paper said that after the killings, authorities searched a storage unit rented by Trejo Estrada, where they seized psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana, meth and an unspecified white powder.
Friends of Reyes-Jungwirth said he did not talk about his stepfather much but said they did not feel that Reyes-Jungwirth was involved in any illicit activities. They said he was an ambitious, hard worker who had dreams of eventually owning a house.
“He never sold drugs,” said Evan Coffey, of St. Paul, who has known Reyes-Jungwirth since fifth grade. “He was always positive, happy. And he always wanted anyone who was around him to be like that.”
Friends and family members gathered Monday night for a candlelight vigil to remember Reyes-Jungwirth, his mother and his stepfather. Gydesen said that without Reyes-Jungwirth, his friendship group feels incomplete.
“He was always just loving, caring,” Gydesen said. “He’s one of the most unselfish people I’ve met.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
