Inset left: Garry Bartlett, Jr. (Jacksonville Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Garry Bartlett, Sr. (National Gun Violence Memorial). Background: The residence where the son shot and killed the father in Jacksonville, Fla. (First Coast News).
A Florida man will spend several decades behind bars for shooting and killing his father in a furious hail of gunfire while the older man sat on the couch in the middle of the night.
In early May, Garry Charles Bartlett, Jr., 29, pleaded guilty to one count of murder in the second degree with a weapon over the November 2024 death of 69-year-old Garry Charles Bartlett, Sr., according to Duval County court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
On Wednesday, Duval County Circuit Court Judge Jeb Branham sentenced the defendant to 45 years in state prison.
Under the terms of a partially negotiated plea deal, Bartlett, Jr. agreed to a 40-year minimum sentence with a possible maximum sentence of life in prison, court records show. The court meted out punishment near the lower end of that spectrum – and the defendant was also credited with nearly two years of time spent in pretrial detention.
The underlying incident occurred on Nov. 20, 2024, at a residence on Fawn Lake Drive in the Deer Cove neighborhood of Jacksonville.
The defendant himself dialed 911 that day and told dispatchers he shot his father, according to an arrest report obtained by Law&Crime.
“He also stated his father was deceased,” the report reads. “While on the telephone with police dispatch, the suspect informed dispatchers that he placed the gun he used to shoot his father was in the back bedroom of the residence. He also informed dispatchers that CPR was not necessary as his father was already deceased.”
Officers arrived to find Bartlett, Jr. in the front yard, police said. A search of the convicted killer’s body turned up one 9 mm casing and one live 9 mm round in one of his pants pockets. Inside the house, officers found Bartlett, Sr., dead on the living room floor – suffering from “several” gunshot wounds, according to the charging document.
Investigators then took a closer look at the murder scene, finding the victim “covered in blood,” 12 spent 9 mm casings in the living room, and the Springfield Armory 9 mm handgun on the bed in the back bedroom, according to the report. The gun had apparently misfired – two live rounds were double-fed into the chamber while the 20-round magazine had two additional rounds remaining, police said.
At the police station, the defendant was apprised of his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with detectives – volubly, and at length about his history with his father and why and when he finally chose violence to put that history to rest, according to the arrest report.
To hear Bartlett, Jr. tell it, his father had “sexually assaulted” him between the ages of 5 and 9 years old, the report says. Police, however, said these allegations had never before been documented.
The night before the shooting, Bartlett, Sr. is said to have made a comment about “raping” him, his son told investigators. This did not immediately result in the flurry of gunfire, though. Rather, the defendant went to his room and “stewed” while listening to music and calling a friend, police said.
Some six to eight hours later, the defendant got his gun and went out to the living room where he found his father on the couch.
The report explains the son’s take on what happened next:
[The son] admitted he shot and killed his father. He said he originally fired several rounds at the victim, but the victim was still breathing. He said he was tired of hearing his father’s agonal breathing causing him to “put one in the back of his f—ing head” and the victim “shut the f— up after that.” When asked how many times he shot his father, he said, “a lot”. The suspect also confirmed he went into the back bedroom after the shooting. He advised he placed his firearm on the bed and laid in the bed for several hours.
After waiting another six to eight hours, the defendant dialed 911.
The turn of events shocked the neighborhood.
“Nice people from what all I knew, kept to themselves,” one neighbor told Jacksonville-based NBC affiliate WTLV and Orange Park-based ABC affiliate WJXX, who collectively broadcast as First Coast News. “I don’t know much about the family themselves. I’m just totally surprised by the whole situation, for this neighborhood for sure.”
