Zachary Carson, 50, was shot and killed in the pre-dawn hours of November 3, 2023, in a Lowe’s parking lot in Bountiful, Utah. Carson was with a woman he had been seeing, helping her with divorce paperwork and dropping her off at her vehicle that had been left in the lot overnight. Surveillance footage shows the woman’s estranged husband, 31-year-old Jake Jackson, arriving around 2 a.m. and waiting.

Around 5 a.m., Jackson confronted the pair. An argument escalated and, when Carson intervened, Jackson produced a handgun and shot Carson multiple times. Carson was pronounced dead at the scene. After the shooting Jackson reportedly threatened the woman, demanded she take him to their son, fled, and later engaged in an hours-long standoff with law enforcement on Highway 191 in Grand County before being taken into custody.

Jackson was charged with murder, aggravated kidnapping, and multiple counts of discharging a firearm. Investigators found a tracking device on the woman’s car, which has been described as suggesting premeditation. Carson’s family called him a protector who hated violence and said he died defending someone he cared for; his sister said the two had hoped for a future together.

If anyone saw activity in the Lowe’s parking lot that morning or has information about the tracking device, please share what is known.