Inset left: Garry Bartlett, Jr. (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office). Inset right: Garry Bartlett, Sr. (National Gun Violence Memorial). Background: The Jacksonville, Fla., home where authorities say the son fatally shot his father (First Coast News).
A Florida man is headed to prison for decades after admitting he opened fire on his father in the middle of the night, killing the older man as he sat on a couch.
Garry Charles Bartlett, Jr., 29, pleaded guilty in early May to one count of second-degree murder with a weapon in connection with the November 2024 killing of his 69-year-old father, Garry Charles Bartlett, Sr., according to Duval County court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
On Wednesday, Duval County Circuit Court Judge Jeb Branham ordered Bartlett, Jr. to serve 45 years in state prison.
As part of a partially negotiated plea agreement, Bartlett, Jr. accepted a minimum sentence of 40 years and faced a potential maximum of life behind bars, court filings show. The judge imposed a term closer to the lower end of that range, while also giving the defendant credit for nearly two years already spent in pretrial custody.
The shooting took place on Nov. 20, 2024, at a home on Fawn Lake Drive in Jacksonville’s Deer Cove neighborhood.
According to an arrest report obtained by Law&Crime, Bartlett, Jr. called 911 himself that day and told dispatchers he had shot his father.
The report says he also told authorities his father was dead. While speaking with dispatchers, Bartlett, Jr. allegedly said the gun used in the shooting had been placed in a back bedroom of the house and that CPR would not be needed because 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.”
