JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Robert Corey Sasser, a suspended and now deceased Glynn County police lieutenant, is the suspect in a deadly shooting, according to authorities.
On Thursday night, his estranged wife Katie Kettles Sasser was at the home of her friend John Hall Jr. when investigators say the front door was forced open and they were both shot to death.
Sasser died from a gunshot wound to his chest after trying to drive away from that scene, although police never fired shots at him.
John Hall’s best friend, Daniel Pearson, tells First Coast News that the community believes this was preventable.
"All they had to do was their job and there would be three people alive," Pearson said.
Pearson is overcome with grief for the man he calls his brother, his lifelong best friend, John Hall Jr.
"He had the biggest heart, he would do anything for anybody," said Pearson. "He was my brother, we’ve been together forever."
Pearson didn’t know Katie Kettles Sasser as long but he says he knew her long enough to know she was a good person.
"Every time I was around Katie she was just bubbly and happy-go-lucky."
But recently, he noticed, that joy was replaced with fear.
"That poor girl is threatened to death, she is scared he is going to hurt her."
She was in the middle of pursuing a divorce from her husband Robert Sasser, the former police lieutenant, when the situation seemed to grow more tense. He faced charges of battery and trespassing after breaking into her home in May, so he was ordered to stay away from her and to leave Glynn county altogether, with one exception, facing a judge. Outside of that, he was expected to leave and stay with his sister in Alabama.
"He was only supposed to be in Glynn County for court and last time I checked court isn’t in Moondoggy’s at 8 o’clock," Pearson said.
That’s where Pearson was Tuesday night with Hall and Kettles when he said Sasser walked in and watched them from the corner of the bar. He says Sasser made a gun gesture in their direction before leaving.
When Kettles saw him Pearson says she immediately reported him to a local official.
"They said thank you we will take it from here, and they did nothing, and they knew… they knew … they knew since Tuesday that he was here, he was in town."
Two days later, Pearson says everything would change.
"He said I’m going to stay home tonight, call me tomorrow brother, love you, and I said I love you too brother, that was the last time we talked."
That was just hours before the reported gunfire Thursday night at Hall's home.
According to the Brunswick district attorney’s office, they say, “there is an ongoing investigation into Sasser’s location and activities subsequent to the divorce proceeding in civil court on Tuesday, and into whether he violated his bond conditions prior to Thursday night”.
Pearson believes Sasser did violate his probation and that he should have been arrested Tuesday.
"There are great law enforcement officers who do their job every day but someone, somewhere didn’t do their job that day," he said. "The people who didn’t go get him, they know, they know, but that doesn’t bring them back."
First Coast News reached out to Glynn County police multiple times but we haven’t heard back. We will continue to update this story on air and online.