On November 18, 2025, at approximately 9:52 P.M., police responded to an apartment at [ADDRESS REDACTED], St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. Dispatch advised that it sounded like things were physical, someone yelled, “Why did you put hands on my sister?”, and that the aunt’s boyfriend was choking her. Upon arrival, there was a crowd outside the address with people yelling that someone was getting assaulted in the apartment on the top floor. When police got upstairs, they heard a lot of commotion coming from the apartment and a child had the door propped open and told police to come in.
The victim, TDJ, told police they did not have permission to enter and that the suspect left. TDJ asked who let police in and why they were there. TDJ was not cooperative with police. While speaking with TDJ, law enforcement observed that she had blood inside of her mouth. Another family member told police that the suspect, TERRELL DE’ANDRE SMITH – [DOB REDACTED], was in the bedroom. Police located SMITH in the bedroom and took him into custody. TDJ’s nephew, MLC (YOB: 2011), reported that he heard TDJ screaming, “Help me!” from the bathroom.
MJC said he ran to the bathroom and yanked open the door using all his force. When he opened the door, MJC stated that he saw SMITH on top of TDJ and tried to pull him off. While on the ground in the hallway, MJC reported that SMITH pulled out a handgun, racked it, and pointed it at TDJ. MJC said his mother, YRJ, was holding him back from protecting TDJ, which caused his shirt to rip (MJC pointed to his shirt on the ground), but he was not going to watch TDJ get killed. YRJ reported that she was in the living room when she heard arguing, which she described as normal, but then heard a thump on the ground as if someone was being assaulted.
YRJ said she went into the kitchen and saw SMITH punching TDJ while she was on the ground. YRJ reported that she went to the living room to call police and her brother, then went back into the kitchen and observed SMITH still punching TDJ. YRJ said she went to pull SMITH off TDJ. SMITH and TDJ went from the bathroom into the bedroom. YRJ recalled seeing SMITH reach into a black bag as if he was pulling out a firearm. YRJ said she was unable to see a full firearm but saw the grip of a pistol-like firearm.
TDJ and YRJ’s brother arrived on scene and demanded that police leave. Due to the increasingly hostile circumstances, police left the apartment. Following a Miranda advisory, SMITH said he was just arguing with TDJ and that he “roughed her up.” When asked what that meant, SMITH reported that he got in her face and was yelling and arguing with her because he found out that his girlfriend had a miscarriage and was upset she has been talking with other men. SMITH denied having a firearm inside the apartment, although he acknowledged previously getting in trouble for having a firearm, and further denied that anything physical happened.’’ In a prior police report on October 10, 2025 (SPPD CN: 25187800), TDJ reported that SMITH assaulted her and described him as her boyfriend of four years.
