A teenager surrendered himself to deputies in South Florida to face charges connected to the murder of his girlfriend’s father.
According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, 18-year-old Lawan Jones Jr. faces a first-degree murder charge for the shooting death of 44-year-old Keith Bryan Poole in Pompano Beach, Florida.
In a release, deputies stated they responded to a shooting call near the 1500 block of Northeast 28th Street on Monday, Aug. 19.
First responders arrived to find Poole suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he died.
According to family members and friends, Jones moved in with Poole after his parents died. Witnesses reported that right before the shooting, they heard an argument between the two.
The altercation started after Poole reportedly learned about some social media posts he deemed inappropriate that Jones made. According to DailyMail.com, the arrest affidavit states that Poole saw Jones holding a firearm in one photo he posted online and told Jones he couldn’t do that in his house and “would have to leave.”
A witness stated that this angered Jones, and he reportedly “threatened that he could have his friends come over and ‘take care of the problem,'” but Poole didn’t back down from his demand for Jones to leave the home.
According to multiple witness accounts, the fight intensified when Jones pulled a firearm from a satchel he was carrying and shot Poole twice. Then, Jones reportedly fled the scene with Poole’s daughter, 17-year-old Jessie Poole.
The affidavit states that Poole “posed no physical threat to the suspect” when he was shot.
Investigators launched an extensive search for Jones. Two days after the shooting, Jones turned himself in to deputies and was booked into a local jail without bond after his arrest.
His girlfriend, Jessie Poole, was safely located and reunited with family members.
Family and friends remembered Poole as a devoted father of three who welcomed Jones, an orphan, into his home where the 18-year-old lived for more than a year, NBC6 Miami reported.
“[Lawan] lived with Keith, and he lived with Jessie. He lost his parents some years back,” Barbara Santiago told NBC6.
Several people who knew Poole took to social media, where they shared fond memories of the 44-year-old and mourned the circumstances surrounding his death.
“Rest in peace, you were so kind to all of us,” one person wrote to Poole on Facebook. “You will be truly missed.”
“He moved you in his home, fed you, and probably gave you the type of love you needed and you take his life?” another person commented.
A GoFundMe fundraiser was launched to provide financial assistance to Poole’s family, stating that Poole was “the head of the household and the financial provider” and that “his absence has left a huge burden.”
