Otis Anderson Sr. (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office) and Otis Anderson Jr. (WKMG screenshot)
A 54-year-old father in Florida will spend more than a dozen years behind bars after admitting to killing his own son, fatally shooting the former college football star in the chest inside of their home following an argument in November 2021. Otis Anderson, Sr. on Tuesday formally pleaded guilty to one lesser charge of armed manslaughter in the slaying of his 23-year-old son, Otis Anderson, Jr., authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
Duval County Circuit Court Judge Mark Borello subsequently ordered Anderson to serve a sentence of 12 1/2 years in a state correctional facility followed by five years of supervised release. Judge Borello also credited Anderson with 707 days — nearly two full years — of time already served.
Anderson also pleaded guilty to one count of attempted armed manslaughter for using a firearm to shoot and injure his wife during the altercation that left his son dead. Judge Borello sentenced him to three years on that charge, with the sentence running concurrently — meaning at the same time — as the manslaughter sentence.
Anderson reached a deal with prosecutors in the state attorney’s office in which he agreed to plead to manslaughter in exchange for charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder being dropped.
Anderson’s son played running back at the University of Central Florida (UCF) where he rushed for 2,182 yards and 17 touchdowns along with 91 receptions for another 1,025 yards and nine touchdowns from 2017 until 2020. Anderson Jr. was briefly picked up by the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 and played for the practice squad during training camp before he was cut from the team.
Several members of Anderson Jr.’s family attended the proceeding on Tuesday, but declined to address the court, Jacksonville CW affiliate WJXT reported.
“The emotions haven’t changed today. They’ve been high, you can imagine this entire ordeal. And Mrs. Anderson, she’s happy that this part of the process is over,” her attorney, Stephen Kelly, told the station. “I think that Miss Anderson reliving moments and things of that sort would not be in the best interest of her or her family moving forward with this grieving process.”
According to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by Law&Crime, Anderson Jr.’s mother told police that the fight began when a dog belonging to the younger man’s girlfriend bit Anderson Sr., drawing blood. The two then got into a verbal altercation and she heard a “pow” sound, followed by her son saying, “You shot me.”
When the mother confronted her husband and started hitting him with a Swiffer mop, Anderson Sr. turned around and shot her twice, the document states.
“I said, ‘Are you f—— serious?’ So I had that Swiffer Jet mop, and I started hitting him with it, and then he turned around, and he shot me,” Anderson Jr.’s mom can be heard saying on the body camera footage.
In subsequent interviews with police, Anderson Sr. claimed it was very out of character for his son to get physical with him, saying he believed his son was depressed due to his recent release from the Los Angeles Rams.
“I can’t recall the exact words, to be honest with you. It just it happened so fast,” he told police in footage released last year. “I call it ‘bowing up.’ I mean he got aggressive. He popped off, and I’m like, ‘Hey boy, you don’t hurt me, you don’t do that.’”
In police body camera footage from the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a deputy can be heard emphatically declaring that there was “blood in every single room” of the Anderson home. The footage also appeared to show trails of blood leading out of the house and covering the sidewalk in the direction of the neighbor’s house, where Anderson Jr. and his mother sought help after the attack.
“Holy s—. That is a big ole blood spatter right there boy,” a deputy says, referring to a large red spot on the sidewalk. “This guy lost a lot of blood.”
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