Surveillance video shows man kidnap son after holding ex-girlfriend at gunpoint, police say

By Luke Jones

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    HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A man and his fiancée were arrested for kidnapping his 4-year-old son after police say he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and held her at gunpoint.

Investigators say part of the crime was captured on surveillance video, which Eyewitness News obtained.

Jonmario Jackson and Ashley Hunter were both charged with aggravated kidnapping, and Jackson faces an additional burglary charge.

The victim tells Eyewitness News, and authorities confirm, she called police Monday morning because Jackson had been sending her threatening text messages.

“I’m gonna kill you. I’m gonna execute you,” she said Jackson told her.

Just after 1 p.m., she said she called police again when Jackson showed up at her southwest Houston apartment complex.

Surveillance video shows him walking up the stairs to her apartment with a trash can. A few seconds later, you can hear two loud bangs, which she said are from Jackson kicking down her door.

“Please don’t kill me. No! Please!” you can hear the victim screaming on the video as she said Jackson forced her into a bedroom with two of her children.

“That’s when he gets on top of me, throws my blanket over my head, and that’s when he presses a gun towards my head,” she told Eyewitness News.

The victim fears Jackson might have pulled the trigger had her 10-year-old son not intervened.

“My son came from under the bed, and he was screaming, ‘Mom! Mom! You’re gonna kill my mom! Please don’t kill my mom,'” she said.

The victim said her 4-year-old son ran from the room and was quickly snatched up by Jackson’s fiancée.

“She could have told him, ‘Stop. Don’t do this, or something,” the victim said.

The surveillance video shows her following Hunter down the stairs, shouting, “Give me my baby!”

Jackson then emerges and confronts a neighbor attempting to document what was happening.

“What you ’bout to record? What you ’bout to record? Give me this (expletive) phone,” he can be heard saying, before following Hunter.

It wasn’t until around 9 p.m. that police arrested Jackson at the north Harris County apartment where he lives with his mother. Then, the victim’s son was returned.

“I believe that God really had my back. I know that God – it was between my son and God,” the victim said.

Jackson’s mother told Eyewitness News that he never pulled a gun on his ex and said, “He’s not like that.” She also described him as “sweet.”

Court records show Jackson was arrested in 2022 for threatening the same woman and in 2009 for beating another woman.’

His mother said he has visitation rights with his son on holidays, like Memorial Day. Court records, however, say he’s only supposed to see his son every other weekend.

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