A 36-year-old Florida man now faces charges for allegedly killing his friend with a BB gun after he blasted the victim in the armpit, sending a pellet into his lungs that caused him to bleed out.
Prosecutors have charged Jabari Cowart with manslaughter in the death of 34-year-old Shawn Johnson.
Fort Pierce police responded around 8 p.m. Saturday to a home in the 2900 block of Avenue G after receiving a shooting report. When they arrived, cops found Johnson lying in the driveway with a puncture wound in his right armpit consistent with a BB gun pellet.
A probable cause arrest affidavit said paramedics realized Johnson’s lungs were “filling with blood indicating that the projectile had made entry into his lungs, and that his injury was life threatening” while treating him. Hospital staff later pronounced Johnson dead after rushing him there.
Cowart claimed Johnson accidentally shot himself, but cops noted that the BB gun’s rifle barrel was “fairly long thus making it nearly impossible” for the victim to inflict the wound in that location on himself.
Other witnesses said Cowart, Johnson and two other men were shooting at trees in the backyard of the home. Cowart asked if he could see the gun. Once he received the rifle, Cowart allegedly turned toward Johnson and pulled the trigger.
Johnson “grabbed his side” and walked away before he eventually collapsed.
Detectives confronted Cowart with the witness statements, but he continued to stick with his story about Johnson shooting himself. Cowart was “deflecting and tried to shift the blame.”
“He would take long pauses during his responses and tried to avoid answering questions,” cops wrote.
Cowart asked for an attorney, and detectives stopped the interview.
Cops arrested Cowart and took him to the St. Lucie County Jail, where he is being held on a $50,000 bond. Court records do not yet list his next court date.
Leave a Reply