Second Arrest Made In Student Shooting

By First Coast News Staff

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Police have made a second arrest in the shooting of a student from Orange Park High School.

Sheriff Rick Beseler announced his agency arrested 33-year-old Larry Darnel Bowman. The sheriff says Bowman is tied to a gang-related shooting that sent a teenager to the hospital with a bullet in his chest.

The sheriff says Bowman was in Clay County to organize youths who want to be in gangs.

According to a police report, Bowman was staying at the Intown Suites Hotel. It's just across the street from Orange Park High School.

The sheriff says Bowman was at the scene of Wednesday's shooting across from the school, could not get the gun to work, and passed it on to Marcus McKinney. Sheriff's officers had arrested 18-year-old McKinney hours after the shooting. McKinney is accused of shooting student Michael Jacola.

Beseler says, "We feel the removal of [Bowman] from the streets will assist us in stemming the advancement of gang activities in the area."

Beseler adds Bowman has an extensive violent crime arrest history in the Las Vegas area.

A worker at the hotel where Bowman was staying described him as nasty and rude, someone she wanted out of the hotel.

Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford joined Beseler for the news conference Friday. He announced the gun used in Wednesday's shooting belonged to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer. Rutherford said it was Verissa McGriff's personal handgun. He says a relative took it from her car, and then another person took it from the relative. No charges in this portion of the case have been filed yet.

"That?s being left up the investigators in Clay County," Rutherford explained.

Beseler stressed, "We don?t feel the gangs were firmly rooted. It appears these gangs that were locally organized were in their early stages."

Beseler also described the youths as "want-to-be" gang members. He said Florida statute describes a "gang" member according to the amount of crime he or she commits, so the groups in Clay County do not meet that definition.

First Coast News has learned McKinney, the one arrested for pulling the trigger, is a student at Forrest High School in Jacksonville. He has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

The victim's grandfather, Frank Jacola, says his grandson has a collapsed lung as a result of the shooting. The teen is recovering and is expected to be released in a few days.

The Clay County Superintendent of Schools, David Owens, joined the sheriffs for the news conference. He said if anyone displays, talks about, or carries anything gang related, the student will be expelled.

Owens said, "Our zero tolerance policy is exactly what it says. One strike you?re out. Not two or three strikes."

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