Joseph Ness Charged With Murdering Older Sister In Family's Chanhassen Home
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 21-year-old Twin Cities man is facing a murder charge in the Saturday shooting death of his older sister in Chanhassen. Inside the family home, investigators say they found six rifles, hundreds of spent shell casings, bullet holes in the walls and several shot-out windows.
Joseph Ness is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 25-year-old sister, court documents filed in Carver County show. If convicted of the charge, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
According to a criminal complaint, officers were called around 2:20 p.m. to the family home on the 3700 block of Landings Drive following several 911 calls. One of the calls was placed by a neighbor who reported that Ness' mother ran into her home, yelling: "Joey shot and killed Noelle."
One of the responding officers met with the mother, who repeated that her son had killed her daughter, and told the officer that there were several guns in the house. The mother lived at the home with her husband and their two adult children.
About a half-hour later, a different neighbor called 911, saying that Ness had walked to her property via a public trail. He told her his name and asked her to call the police. "I just killed my sister," Ness allegedly told his neighbor. "I want to surrender peacefully. I am unarmed."
Officers arrived minutes later and arrested Ness without incident, the complaint states.
Following a search of the family's home, investigators determined that Ness, armed with a rifle, fired a number of bullets from his room into his sister's room, which is across the hall. Evidence also indicated that Ness shot his sister at close range, as some of the bullets were shot directly down onto the bed, the complaint states.
Paramedics pronounced Noelle Ness dead at the scene. She suffered multiple gunshot wounds. An exact cause of death will be determined by the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office.
The search of the home produced six rifles, including AR-15 and AK-47 variants, the complaint states. Also recovered were ammunition and high capacity drum magazines.