On an early morning in May 2023, a passerby found 39-year-old Gary Jackson dead from apparent gunshot wounds behind a dumpster in the 500 block of West Ashley Street, downtown Jacksonville. Surveillance footage and recovered shell casings showed a Jeep Grand Cherokee trailing Jackson as a man ran after him with what appeared to be a handgun with an extended magazine; the footage captured the pursuer firing multiple shots while Jackson took cover behind the dumpster. Investigators say the gunman rifled Jackson’s pockets before returning to the Jeep.

Police identified three young men they believed were involved. Ryan Nichols, then 19, was charged as the shooter; Daniel DeGuardia, 18, and Holden Dodson, 21, were charged as accessories after the fact. Court testimony described the group spending the night drinking and using cocaine, encountering Jackson, and Nichols chasing him after alleging Jackson had taken Nichols’s gun. All three later pleaded guilty: Nichols to second-degree murder and DeGuardia and Dodson to accessory after the fact. Nichols received a 40-year sentence with a 10-year minimum; DeGuardia and Dodson were given seven years probation. Jackson’s family, who say he had a young daughter and was not homeless, attended the hearings and described the lasting pain of his death.

Did anyone in downtown Jacksonville know Gary or have information about his movements the night before he was killed?