FORT MYERS BEACH, FLA — For 22-years Johnny Jackson was here, alive, and constantly showing up whenever his friends and family needed him.
"He was like the heart. He was the glue to our family," said Jackson's mom Thomasiana Daniels
Daniels says that all changed in the wee hours of the morning on July 16, 2020.
"A family fun day weekend," she said, "All of my grandkids, everybody was out there."
But that family gathering at the Lani Kai in Fort Myers Beach ended with bullets.
"About 12 o'clock my 12-year-old, Judah, is calling me on the phone screaming, hollering. I'm waking up out of my sleep. 'Mom somebody just killed johnny," said Daniels, "[Johnny] jumping up and running, he caught a bullet to the back of the head and he got shot in his leg."
His mother says he was targeted in the past when he was in high school while walking in the Dunbar community.
"These boys jumped out of the bushes with guns and started shooting at him," she said.
But she wants to make it clear that the two shootings aren't related.
"So they try to make it seem like because of that incident that maybe he did something to cause this incident. No, they was all out there having a family fun day and this happened."
And for the last 365 days, she says one thought has never left her mind.
"I just want to know who did it, said Daniels.
But Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers says one year later, they still don't have that answer.
"Since the beginning, there are certain people that have been on the radar, but here we are 12 months later and no arrests," said Trish Routte of SWFL Crime Stoppers.
And she says people at home can help.
"We know that there are people who absolutely know what happened to Johnny," she said.
In fact, Crime Stoppers is counting on the one-year anniversary of Jackson's death to serve as a pivotal reminder and moment in this case...
We understand that after something horrible like this happens, say you were there, that may be right at first you don't want to necessarily be seen talking to law enforcement. Maybe because of the chaos of the scene, the closeness that you may have been to that scene, or to players that were involved, you may not want to say something right away," said Routte, "Totally get that. But a year later if you were there and you have intimate knowledge of what happened that night that's burned into your memory, you absolutely going to be able to recall every little detail. Someone lost his life, you're gonna remember that."
And she adds that if nothing else, coming forward to provide information is an act that helps keep yourself and others safe.
"Think about his family, do the right thing for them. If this person had the capacity to just aggressively and boldly take johnny's life on the beach and then take off, what else have they done in the last year? What other violent capacities do they have?" she said.
Daniels says between SWFL Crime Stoppers, an anonymous donor, and her family, there's now a 33,000 dollar reward connected to this case.
"If this was to happen to your loved one, to your son or your daughter, you would want somebody that seen it to come forward and tell what they know," she said.
And she has this message for whoever pulled the trigger:
"You're still alive. You're still alive. You can admit your wrong, suffer your consequences and move on with your life but my son, he's dead. If it's any kind of good in you admit your wrong," she said.
If you have any information regarding this shooting, you're asked to call crime stoppers at 1-800-780-8477.
