Teen held in Belle Glade shooting denied bond
Randolph Jackson is accused of firing at people from SUV.
BELLE GLADE — Two days after he reportedly opened fire outside the Florida Department of Health building in Belle Glade, Randolph Jackson on Wednesday was denied bond for attempted homicide and weapons charges.
Jackson, 18, was arrested early Tuesday on the charges but did not appear in court then because he was in a hospital, records show. He appeared Wednesday before Judge Dina Keever-Agrama, who ordered him held without bond in the Palm Beach County Jail.
The Belle Glade teen was taken to Delray Medical Center after being shot in the thigh, Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office records state.
Deputies say Jackson was riding on a Palm Tran bus Monday afternoon on his way home from a meeting in West Palm Beach with his probation officer. He started to argue with another passenger, and the disagreement continued after they arrived in Belle Glade.
Surveillance footage reportedly shows four people walking toward their cars on State Road 80, along South Main Street and north of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Video then reportedly shows Jackson shooting at them and the people rushing for cover.
Jackson was near his mother’s car while firing the shots, records state. Two victims told sheriff ’s deputies that she was driving the silver SUV from which Jackson was shooting. Deputies interviewed Jackson’s mother, who admitted driving the car to pick up Jackson in the health building’s parking lot and said someone began shooting, but she couldn’t see who.
One of the four people Jackson shot at grabbed a licensed .45-caliber handgun from his car and returned gunfire in self-defense, deputies said. A bullet hit Jackson in the upper right thigh. His trail of blood indicated he was shot outside the C.L. Brumback Health Center but then rushed into it. Authorities found him near a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol.
Jackson was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. One victim was shot in the left thigh and another in the buttocks. Both were flown to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.