He fired gun at Lakewood park ‘packed’ with people, killing a man. Here’s his sentence
A 20-year-old man who fatally shot a person during a busy summer day at Lakewood’s American Lake Park last year was sentenced on Monday to prison.
Jaelin Jackson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of Jamario Gorman-Thomass, 20. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Joseph Evans sentenced Jackson to 15 years, four months.
According to court records, Jackson was at the park with friends that day and became involved in several verbal disputes, including with one teenager related to the man he eventually shot and killed. Witnesses told police Jackson had been picking fights with strangers and was seen repeatedly reaching into a backpack he wore on his chest.
Jackson’s sentence — part of a plea agreement — was the middle of the standard sentencing range for defendants tried in similar cases. According to court filings, the man’s defense attorneys requested he be sentenced to 12 years, 3 months.
Prosecutors said the plea agreement took into account Jackson’s lack of criminal history, the fact that he was 19 when he shot Gorman-Thomass and anticipated trial evidence.
A Lakewood Police Department officer responded at about 7 p.m. June 26, 2021, after hearing up to eight gunshots and seeing people running and screaming in the park, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. The victim was found with at least five gunshot wounds. He later died at an area hospital.
Jackson fled but was arrested shortly after the shooting. Records say he initially denied being at the park that day but later admitted he shot Gorman-Thomass, telling officers he felt threatened and “reacted out of fear,” prosecutors wrote in the charging documents.
According to a forensic psychological evaluation conducted in February and requested by the defense, Jackson was born in Arkansas and spent most of his childhood there. He moved to Washington in 2016 to live with his father but was often homeless. Citing physical abuse Jackson faced as a child, reports of fearing for his life while homeless and nightmares he’s dealt with after the shooting, the psychologist determined he met diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. He also was diagnosed with ADHD and cannabis-use disorder.
On the Saturday of the shooting, more than 1,000 people were at the park seeking reprieve from an exceptionally hot day, according to previous reporting from The News Tribune.
At about 4 p.m. police were called to a boat launch at the park because a group of teenagers was fighting. According to the probable cause document, one woman pointed out Jackson and told an officer she thought he had a gun because he kept reaching into his bag. Records say the officer didn’t see him acting suspiciously, so he did not speak to him.
The shooting occurred about three hours later. It stemmed from a fight Jackson allegedly picked earlier in the day with a teenage boy, who called a relative, Gorman-Thomass, for help, according to court documents.
“When the victim arrived at the park, he walked up to the defendant and asked, ‘What are you tripping about?’” Jackson’s friend told detectives. Jackson then “pulled a gun from his backpack and fired several times at close range to the victim, striking him.”
Jackson’s friend told detectives he didn’t hear the victim make any threats.
