The murder-suicide was apparently not premeditated.
Hillsborough County, Florida Sheriff Chad Chronister reported that shortly after 7:30 AM local time on Monday, a man called 9-1-1 to report that his friend, Keith Jackson, aged 30, called him via Apple’s FaceTime to say he had killed his boyfriend during a domestic dispute.
It was from here that SWAT and crisis negotiators swarmed the condominium complex at Riverview to try and talk Jackson off the proverbial edge – to not do anything stupid. At this time, Jackson was tearfully confessing on Facebook Live to “killing the love of his life”.
The situation ramped up as Jackson refused to answer his door or his phone as deputies tried to establish contact. All they could do was watch Jackson’s live stream via Facebook as he waved a gun around and said he had tried to kill himself three times since the dispute with his boyfriend.
He then said he wanted to commit suicide by cop via the SWAT team, according to Sheriff Chronister.
The ensuing standoff lasted seven harrowing hours. All throughout, officers at the scene – especially the negotiators – are trying to do all they can to de-escalate the situation.
Just before 1:00 PM, Jackson gets to a watershed moment of frustration with the officers, saying, “If you guys aren’t going to do this we’re back at square one. I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands.”
Officers then saw billows of smoke rising from the condo and called Hillsborough County Fire & Rescue. SWAT covered the firefighters as they rushed in to put the flames out and emerged with the bodies of the two dead men.
Investigators are not identifying Jackson’s victim, only saying he was in his 20s-30s.