Mother of gunman in Zaria McKeever killing pleads guilty
Valesha Grace Parker, 48, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of aiding an offender after the fact in connection with the 2022 killing of 23‑year‑old Zaria McKeever in Brooklyn Park. Prosecutors say Parker helped her son, Erick Haynes — now serving life for ordering two teens to carry out the attack — after McKeever was shot to death in her apartment while her boyfriend escaped out a second‑story window. The plea caps another piece of a case that exploded into a political fight, after Gov. Tim Walz yanked the prosecution from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and handed it to Attorney General Keith Ellison over backlash to what critics called lenient plea deals for the teenage triggermen. Parker was originally charged in July 2024 with multiple counts of aiding an offender after the fact, based on surveillance and body‑camera footage tying her to an Extended Stay hotel room where police later recovered a backpack linked to the break‑in and the murder weapon in a car outside. For Twin Cities residents, the conviction closes in on the network of adults around this domestic‑violence murder and underscores how far the state was willing to go to override local charging decisions in a high‑profile Hennepin County homicide.
📌 Key Facts
- Defendant: Valesha Grace Parker, 48, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to aiding an offender after the fact – first‑degree murder.
- Victim: 23‑year‑old Zaria McKeever was fatally shot inside a Brooklyn Park apartment on Nov. 8, 2022, after her boyfriend escaped out a second‑story window.
- Parker is the mother of Erick Haynes, who ordered two teens to carry out the attack and is now serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to first‑degree murder.
- Parker was charged in July 2024 after surveillance and body‑camera footage and later interviews tied her to an Extended Stay hotel room where police recovered a backpack used in the crime and the murder weapon from a car outside.
- The case became a political flashpoint when Gov. Tim Walz reassigned the prosecution from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty to Attorney General Keith Ellison over criticism of plea deals offered to the teen gunmen.
📊 Relevant Data
The original plea deals offered by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty to the two juvenile suspects in the Zaria McKeever murder case involved serving two years at a juvenile center in exchange for their testimony against Erick Haynes.
Crime and punishment: the Zaria McKeever case — Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
In 2022, 72% of identified murder perpetrators in Minnesota were African-American, while African-Americans comprise less than 10% of the state's population.
The demographics of crime in Minnesota, with updated 2022 data — American Experiment
In Minnesota, 62 percent of victims of violent crime were of the same race as the person perpetrating violence against them.
Minnesota Criminal Justice Data Snapshot — Justice Reinvestment Initiative
In 2025, nearly a quarter of intimate partner violence homicide victims in Minnesota were Black women, while Black people comprise about 7% of the state's population.
At least 31 Minnesotans died of intimate partner violence last year — MPR News
Homicide rates in Minnesota are highest among the Black or African American population and the American Indian population, more than 10 times the rate of the white population based on 2015-2020 data.
New dashboard offers greater resolution on violent death data in Minnesota — Minnesota Department of Health
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