POLK COUNTY, Fla. – Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives are investigating a homicide that occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, August 27, 2022.
At around 2:30 a.m., deputies responded to the area of Meadow Green Drive in unincorporated Davenport to a reported shooting. When deputies arrived, they found a witness performing CPR on the victim in the front yard of a residence. Polk Fire Rescue arrived shortly after and pronounced the victim deceased.
According to the preliminary investigation, 35-year-old Thomas Jackson of Loughman, his girlfriend, and another couple were celebrating Jackson’s birthday and all had been drinking alcohol.
Sometime during the night Jackson and his girlfriend were arguing, and the victim took Jackson outside the residence to try to calm him down.
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A few moments later, the two women inside the house heard gunshots and went outside where they observed Jackson standing over the victim; a handgun was on the ground. One of the witnesses confronted Jackson and the other began life-saving measures.
According to the affidavit, Jackson told detectives that the victim “came at me.”
He also had a small wallet size card with instructions about what to say “post-incident” that included claiming that the person with the card was being attacked.
Detectives did not observe injuries on Jackson nor the victim “to suggest that great bodily harm was a factor” nor was there evidence on the ground to suggest a struggle took place.
During the investigation, witnesses told detectives that Jackson was known to brandish a weapon during conflicts with other people. Detectives also learned that Jackson had been in a physical fight with another person the day before.
“Jackson had a post-incident wallet card which instructed him what to tell law enforcement. If he thought he could murder someone and use this as get out of jail free card, he was sadly mistaken,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
Jackson was arrested for Second Degree Murder with a Weapon. His previous criminal history includes an arrest in Polk County for Fighting and Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon. He also has arrests in Virginia for Intentional Damage of Monument and Violation of Probation, and an arrest in Georgia for DUI and Endangering a Child by DUI.
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