JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has authorized the execution of Michael B. Bell, a 54-year-old who has been incarcerated on death row since 1993 following a double homicide in Jacksonville.

Bell shot Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith when he shot an AK-47 twelve times into the car they were traveling in. 

According to court records, Bell’s brother, Lamar, was killed by West’s half-brother earlier that year, an act that was considered a “justifiable homicide in self-defense.”

Subsequently, Bell expressed to family and friends his determination to seek vengeance. Five months later, he killed West, mistakenly identifying him as his half-brother, who had sold him his vehicle. Smith was with West in the car outside a lounge at the time of the incident and was also killed.

DeSantis is on track to sign the most death warrants in Florida within a calendar year. Bell is the eighth of 2025 — tying the previous highs, in 2014 and 1984.