The teen-age suspect in the Oct. 3 shooting that left two motorists badly injured near the eastbound Interstate 10 exit ramp at Thomasville Road opened fire on one of the victims after spotting him in traffic.
Another victim, a woman in the car with her husband at the time, also was struck in the hail of bullets, according to recently released arrest records. Both victims were shot in the head. A third victim’s car was shot too but, the driver escaped injury.
Jakhari Williams, 17, was later arrested and charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, one count of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm, one count of attempted felony murder, four counts of shooting at or within an occupied vehicle and one count of possession of a firearm by a delinquent.
Prosecutors, who charged Williams via direct information, are trying him as an adult. He is being held without bond at the Leon County Detention Facility.
How the shooting unfolded, according to court records
Around 5:21 p.m. Oct. 3, a Leon County sheriff’s deputy was in the area of the eastbound off ramp helping someone with a disabled vehicle when he heard multiple gunshots and saw a blue/green Honda Accord with a man hanging out of the rear driver’s side vehicle.
The deputy watched as another vehicle, a blue Honda CRV, made a U-turn on the off ramp and drove against the flow of traffic to reach the officer, according to the arrest report.
The driver of that car, a young man, “exited his vehicle and approached the deputy with an obvious head wound consistent with a gunshot wound to the head,” the report says. “There were also multiple holes in the hood and windshield … that were consistent with bullet holes.”
The deputy rendered aid to the victim, who was transported as a trauma alert to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. The other victim was rushed to the TMH emergency room by her husband.
A review of the deputy’s body-worn camera showed that the suspect vehicle turned south on Thomasville Road immediately after the shooting. Through the use of police databases, the suspect’s vehicle was traced to the registered owner, an unnamed person who provided information about the shooting as a confidential witness.
The witness said he was behind the wheel, with Williams in the backseat, when they happened to pass the young male victim on Capital Circle Northwest near the new WaWa gas station. The driver followed the victim’s car onto the interstate and over to Thomasville Road.
“(The witness) told Jakhari not to shoot and that there was a law enforcement officer right in front of them,” the report says. “Jakhari told (the witness) that he did not care. Jakhari made a statement how (the victim) insulted his dead family member and rolled the window down.”
According to the report, the witness who was driving said Williams “put the upper half of his body out of the window as they passed the blue Honda in the right lane and began firing the pistol multiple times west, back up the off ramp in the direction of the blue Honda.”
The witness later dropped Williams off at his mother’s apartment off Tennessee Street. On Oct. 8, Williams was arrested at the Leon County Sheriff’s Office without incident.
The father of the young man who was shot said his son left home shortly before the shooting to go to work. He said his son had been “constantly attacked” over the last couple of years, including being shot in the leg in April 2023 and being “jumped” another time at Rickards High School. He said the “same juveniles” behind those incidents were involved in the interstate ramp shooting.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ‘Did not care’: I-10 shooting suspect allegedly fired into traffic, shot victims in head
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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