PANAMA CITY — Tears streamed down Randy Jackson’s face as the 23-year-old said he didn’t mean to kill a 20-year-old Panama City Beach man when he went along on what he said he thought was a simple marijuana buy.
“I don’t want to be looked at like a murderer or killer or nothing like that, because I’m not,” Jackson said the events of July 10.
But that’s exactly how the state is looking at Jackson. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ryan Brooks after a shootout erupted in the parking lot of The Club apartment complex in Panama City Beach during what police have described as a drug deal in which both sides planned to rob one another.
Reports provided by the Panama City Beach Police Department tell the story of a drug deal set up by a woman who previously had dated the seller and was currently dating the buyer. The two men did not know each other.
From the beginning, the deal potentially was more violent than most because it was born from an intent to rob the buyers, according to police reports obtained by The News Herald. It turned worse because the sellers had the same thing in mind, reports said.
All four men involved that night were armed.
After the shooting, Jackson had told police his version of what happened early that Thursday morning, but gave a slightly different account during an interview with The News Herald at the Bay County Jail four days later.
‘We never talked about robbing anybody’
“If I could relive that night, I wouldn’t have even got in the car with him,” Jackson said of his ride with Joshua Smith, 22.
Jackson recalled that the chain of events started for him when Smith, his friend since junior high, asked him to ride along with him to buy some marijuana. Smith’s girlfriend, 17-year-old Alyssa Watford, had arranged for Smith to purchase two ounces from her ex-boyfriend, 20-year-old Ryan Brooks.
In their statements provided to police the night of the incident, Smith and Jackson said they had planned to rob Brooks of his drugs and cash. Reports also said that Brooks and his friend, Joseph Cannizzo, 25, also had decided to rob Smith when he arrived.
However, Jackson adamantly denied that during his News Herald interview.
“We never talked about robbing anybody or anything like that,” he said.
But Jackson’s story of the events of that night, at times detailed, became sketchy on exactly what happened before the first shots were fired.
By Jackson’s account, he and Smith set out in a borrowed car to meet Brooks after both parties agreed to do the deal in the parking lot of the apartment complex. When Smith and Jackson arrived, Jackson said he was going to stay in the car while Smith made the purchase, but he moved to the driver’s seat because Smith was going to divide the marijuana when he returned to the car.
He said Smith told him he didn’t know the sellers very well and that there was a gun under the driver’s seat if something went wrong. Smith then got into the back of a green SUV with Brooks and Cannizzo to buy the marijuana.
Jackson and police reports support the story that Brooks and Cannizzo pulled guns on Smith and ordered him to take off his pants so they could take his belongings. Smith complied. Jackson said Smith was unable to escape the vehicle because of child safety locks on the doors.
Brooks took Smith’s gun, got out of the SUV and headed toward the vehicle Jackson was sitting in a few parking spaces away. Jackson said he was oblivious to the struggle in the SUV because it was dark and the music was turned up.
Jackson said when he looked up and saw Brooks — armed with two guns and approaching the car he was in — he reached for the gun under his seat. He said Brooks fired at him and missed, and that he fired several rounds back.
“My first instinct wasn’t to kill,” Jackson said. “I just squeezed the trigger and started shooting.”
Jackson said he shot back in self-defense and was trying to hit Brooks in the legs “so he’d stop shooting at me.”
“I seen him fall and I closed the door,” said Jackson, who added that Brooks was still firing at him from the ground.
Jackson said he wasn’t going to leave, but sped out of the parking lot when Cannizzo also began to fire in his direction and struck the car.
Smith, meanwhile, managed to get out of the SUV and escape on foot.
In the minutes that followed, police arrived to find Brooks face-down on the asphalt with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at Bay Medical Center at 1:35 a.m.
Cannizzo was present when officers arrived and portrayed himself as a witness when questioned. He told police he saw Jackson’s car speed away and someone else run away on foot as he was pulling into the complex.
In reality, police reports said Cannizzo had gone to work on the evidence. He had left before police arrived to move his vehicle closer to his apartment. He also put ammunition and the guns Brooks had when he was shot into a trash bag and told his girlfriend, Nicole Philbrook, 26, to dispose of it. The evidence was later retrieved from a Dumpster at an apartment complex in Panama City.
Philbrook was arrested for tampering with evidence.
Cannizzo’s friend, Clinton Allen, 30, also was detained later for stashing a Glock at his home that Cannizzo used in the robbery and for providing false information.
‘I took somebody’s life’
Meanwhile, Jackson and Smith met back up at the home Smith shared with Watford.
Reports said the owner of the car Smith and Jackson had been driving told police she was there when Smith walked back up to the house. He was without his pants and had blood on him, and she overheard Smith telling Watford someone had been killed.
In his News Herald interview, Jackson said he and Smith briefly discussed what happened over a cigarette. Jackson said Smith told him he saw Brooks get back up to his feet and walk around after he’d been shot.
“I felt kind of good about it,” Jackson said, because it led him to think Brooks was still alive.
Jackson left after their conversation. He said he was sober at the time of the shooting, but went home and took a couple of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and fell asleep. He woke up about 8:30 that morning with “guns in my face” when police came to arrest him.
He said that’s when an investigator told him Brooks didn’t survive.
“It just gave me this cold chill,” Jackson said. “I didn’t think I hit him like that. I pointed the gun down.”
Jackson maintains that he did not intend to hurt anyone, and that is why he stayed in the car while Smith went to make the deal, although Smith told police in his statement he went into the robbery with a silver handgun provided to him by Jackson ahead of time.
Like Jackson, Smith also has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery. Watford is charged with conspiracy to commit the armed robbery that led to Brooks’ death.
During the jail interview, Jackson was most visibly emotional when he spoke about the finality of what he did. He paused for a long time after he was asked how it felt to know he’d killed someone.
“I took somebody’s life,” he said, shedding tears. “I feel bad.”
Jackson also was asked to reflect on how different his life will be now that he’s a convicted felon now facing a murder charge. He said the worst part is knowing that he won’t be at home with his 13-month-old son anymore.
“He’s a very nice person and a very good dad,” said Meredith Laflin, 30, Jackson’s girlfriend of two years and the mother of his son. She spoke to The News Herald outside the home she shared with Jackson.
Laflin is out on bond after being the seventh person arrested in connection with the shooting for providing false information.
Police picked her up at work and she lost her job as a result. That has left her with much to figure out about how she will take care of their toddler and her 6-year-old daughter.
Laflin also claims Jackson never would have hurt anyone unless he was in fear for his life.
“I know him better than anyone,” she said, clearly upset.
“I just want him to know that we love him, and we’ve got his back no matter what,” she said.
‘We need to understand why’
The quantifiable damage from the shooting is one life lost and seven others’ lives in disarray for their roles. Brooks’ death was one of a half-dozen shooting fatalities around Panama City this summer that police believe are related to drugs.
Organizations and community leaders have recently hosted rallies and public forums to discuss why gun violence is becoming rampant and to brainstorm ways to curb violence.
“Before we can solve the problem of violence, we need to understand why,” Pastor Maddie Pearl Gainer said at a “Stop the Violence” event July 12. The event highlighted multiple issues those who attended believed contributed to violence.
Concerned parents at the event wanted to know about activities and programs in the community to keep boredom from turning into mischief. Organizations working with at-risk youth stressed the importance of parental involvement and bringing back discipline that teaches children the consequences to their actions.
City leaders present to support the effort said they could pump any amount of funding into programs for youth, but that the real change occurs at home.
The emphasis across the board is that it will take a collective effort to teach children and young adults how to manage anger and resolve conflicts.
“In order to resolve conflict, it will take understanding the conflict,” Gainer said. “We have to step outside of our comfort zone in order to be able to break patterns.”
Many blame mind-altering drugs and guns on the street for the recent violence. Others blame a lack of empathy and communication skills necessary to avoid dangerous confrontations. Efforts of the community now are focused on dissecting the broad range of perceptions that make violence a reality.
In Jackson’s mind, guns and drugs were not the issue the night he pulled the trigger.
“It was greed,” he said. “They (Brooks and Cannizzo) wanted more than what Josh had on him.”
Jackson concluded in The News Herald interview that he doesn’t feel he did anything wrong that he will need an attorney for. He said he was “never really a gun person” and that his parents taught him not to use guns to settle disputes.
When asked what he would like to convey to Brooks’ family, he said “just that I’m sorry.” He said he wished things had turned out differently that night.
“I’m still trying to process it myself,” he said.