December 27, 2007
Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

MURDER SUSPECT CAPTURED 

A man wanted for a homicide investigated by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was captured early Thursday morning by the DeLand Police Department. Jontrell Jackson had an arrest warrant charging him with second-degree murder for the November shooting death of Eric Lyles. DeLand police officers discovered Jackson while investigating noise complaints at an apartment complex in the city. Jackson was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach without incident.

 

Police officers responded to an apartment complex at 1029 Country Club Park Drive at approximately 1:47 a.m. due to complaints of loud music. As officers questioned the people present, including Jackson, they found that Jackson had the open warrant and immediately arrested him.

 

The murder victim, Lyles, was found on the sidewalk along South Clara Avenue near DeLand in the early morning hours of Nov. 6, mortally wounded and barely alive from a gunshot wound to the head. He was airlifted to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where he died about 15 hours after the shooting. An investigation by the Sheriff’s Office’s Major Case Unit led them to 23-year-old Jackson, who was seen by witnesses running from the scene of the shooting. It’s believed that the shooting was motivated by Lyles possibly having robbed Jackson in the past, and so Jackson sought revenge.

 

In addition to the murder warrant, Jackson also had warrants for failure to appear in a no valid driver’s license and driving while license suspended case, and failure to appear in a possession of marijuana under 20 grams and no valid driver’s license case.