Jacksonville man arrested for three separate shootings, including two murders

Jacksonville, FL — New technologies have helped JSO tie one suspect to three separate violent incidents, including two murders, according to Sheriff Mike Williams.

“This case illustrates how critical technologies that our City leadership has invested in these past few years are getting the anticipated results, and getting results fast. These integrated systems delivered the key intelligence to take a deadly shooter off the streets of our City,” Williams says.

The three shootings happened over just 13 days between January and February of this year, and 21-year-old Jamin Tolliver has reportedly confessed to all of them.

The first was a murder January 25th off Barnett Street and West 7th. There were no 911 calls placed and no eyewitnesses located, according to Williams. Instead, police were brought to the scene because of a ShotSpotter activation.

The second shooting was February 1st on Barnett as well. That victim was critically hurt, as a result of multiple gun shots.

“He was transported to a local hospital where, thanks to rapid medical intervention which happens so many times, he survived his wounds. Again, no one called 911 to report the shooting, so without the ShotSpotter technology, this victim would most likely have died from his injuries at the scene,” Williams says.

At both scenes, investigators did find shell casings, which they then entered in to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which is a new technology being used by JSO to process and compare ballistic evidence. Williams says having NIBIN allows them to enter all gun evidence and get results within a day, as opposed to before that system when they would only selectively send out evidence for processing, and results would take months.

“Information I get 24 hours after an event is more valuable than information I get six to nine months after an event,” he says.

The third shooting was a murder on February 6th in Northwest Jacksonville. Williams says they did get 911 calls in this case and neighbors talked about hearing shots, but again there were no eyewitnesses. There were shell casings, which were collected and also submitted in to NIBIN.

The shell casings in all three shootings matched, according to Williams.

“Absent the City’s investment in these technologies, a year ago, these would have been three separate cases at the State lab, worked by three separate teams, and for months those teams would not have appreciated the linkages among those cases. That makes all the difference, both in taking the shooter off the street very quickly, and in the prosecution of these cases as we go forward,” says State Attorney Melissa Nelson.

A camera in another piece of new technology- the Real Time Crime Center- was able to capture the February 1st shooting. That system brings separate feeds together, including surveillance cameras and dispatch calls, and also generates searchable surveillance footage.

IN DEPTH: Behind the scenes at Jacksonville's "Real Time Crime Center"

From that video, JSO developed a general suspect description, and further investigation led them to Tolliver as a person of interest. Williams says Tolliver initially denied having a gun or any involvement in the shootings, but they served a search warrant and found a weapon that matched the ballistic evidence.

When confronted with the evidence, Williams says Tolliver confessed to all three cases. Williams says Tolliver had legally bought the gun just a few days before the first shooting.

At this time, the victims and cases don’t appear to be linked, except for all being carried out by Tolliver, according to Williams. He says one incident involved a relative and the other two were “general street encounters”.

Overall, Williams says all of these technologies are now taking hold in the City, and that’s putting them in good shape. He’s also open to adding even more in the future. WOKV has previously reported that the RTCC can add additional cameras and even access private surveillance, if permission is granted.