Jeffrey Lee Blevins, 56, was shot and killed outside the Fountain Place Apartments on North Wilson Avenue in Bartow late on March 26, 2026. He had been standing outside the apartment he shared with his sister and was reportedly on the phone with his mother around 11 p.m. when the call suddenly changed and the mother heard a sound like him falling. His sister found him in a pool of blood; he was taken to Bartow Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead at about 11:55 p.m. Authorities said a single 9mm bullet struck his head, and a 9mm shell casing was recovered at the scene.

Investigators focused on 48-year-old David Richard Morris, a neighbor who lived upstairs and shared an apartment with his mother. Police obtained a search warrant for Morris’ apartment and recovered a 9mm handgun that appeared to have blood on it, plus a towel and clothing that appeared bloodstained. Ballistics testing linked shell casing samples from that gun to the casing found by Blevins’ body. On March 28 Morris was charged with second-degree murder without premeditation and discharging a firearm in a residential area; he was ordered held without bond on the murder charge at his first appearance. Authorities said motive remained unclear and the investigation was ongoing.

Did anyone in the Fountain Place Apartments see or hear anything that night that could help clarify what happened?