Inset: Jerome Parker (Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office). Background: The area in Copeland Park where Parker killed Nasir Delaney-Rowland (Google Maps).
A 31-year-old man in Florida will spend the remainder of his life behind bars for killing a 20-year-old, gunning him down in a local park to “teach the victim a lesson” after accusing him of stealing a package of socks.
Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Lyann Goudie on Tuesday ordered Jerome Alexander Parker to serve life without parole in a state correctional facility for the 2024 slaying of Nasir Delaney-Rowland, authorities announced.
The sentence was handed down after a jury found Parker guilty on one count of second-degree murder with the use of a firearm.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers with the Tampa Police Department at about 7:15 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2024, responded to a report of a shooting at Copeland Park, which is in the 11000 block of North 15th Street. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the victim on the ground suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.
Emergency medical personnel transported the victim to Tampa General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed that he was shot in the head, with the bullet passing through his skull and penetrating his brain.
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At the time of the shooting, Delaney-Rowland was with a female friend who witnessed his murder and provided a statement to police.
The witness said she and the victim met some friends at the entrance of the park and as they were walking deeper into the park, Delaney-Rowland “observed a package of new black socks lying on the ground.” He picked up the socks and the group walked eastbound toward the park’s picnic shelter.
As they were walking, a man rode up to the group on a bike “yelling at the victim and accusing him of stealing his package of socks.”
“[Parker] quickly dismounted the bicycle he was riding and aggressively approached the victim while reaching into his waistband area for what appeared to be a firearm,” the affidavit said. “In response, the victim punched this male subject in the face causing him to fall to the ground.”
The witness told investigators that the victim then threw the package of socks to the ground, which Parker picked up. Afterward, the witness said she and the others — including the victim — continued to walk toward the picnic shelter.
“As they did so, [Parker] got up from the ground and once again aggressively approached the victim while brandishing a dark colored pistol,” the affidavit said. “According to the witness the male subject in question threatened to shoot the victim and ‘Teach (the victim) a lesson’ while pointing the pistol at the victim’s head. In response, the victim began to ask other occupants of the picnic shelter to help him by telling the unidentified male subject to stop pointing a gun at him. According to the witness, after no one came to the victim’s aid, the victim once again punched the subject with the gun in the face. Upon doing so, the subject with the gun fired a single shot to the back of the victim’s head causing the victim to immediately fall to the ground.”
After shooting the victim, Parker left the package of socks and took a different bicycle than the one he arrived on to flee the area. DNA recovered from the scene came back as a positive match for Parker, who was initially charged with first-degree murder before being convicted on the lesser second-degree charge.
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