Inset: Jermaine Carol Grant (Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: The Miami, Fla., neighborhood where Jermaine Grant allegedly shot his roommate (Google Maps).
A Florida man accused of fatally shooting his roommate multiple times allegedly told police he acted in self-defense.
Jermaine Carol Grant, 32, was ordered held without bond following his first court appearance Tuesday, two days after authorities say he shot and killed his roommate, 38-year-old Xavier Pringle. According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, officers responded to a report of gunfire at a Miami home Saturday night and found Pringle suffering from several gunshot wounds. As first responders attempted lifesaving measures, police said they noticed a weapon tucked into Pringle’s waistband.
Investigators later determined the weapon was a BB gun. Police also reported finding three spent shell casings at the scene.
Pringle was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries, authorities said.
The affidavit states that detectives interviewed two people who were inside the home when the shooting occurred, including Pringle’s girlfriend. A male witness allegedly told police, “Jermaine shot Xavier,” and said he heard roughly six “pops.” He said he then rushed into the room where Pringle was located and found him curled on the floor in a fetal position. The witness told investigators he began performing chest compressions.
That witness also reportedly told police that tensions between Grant and Pringle had been “boiling up” inside the home.
Pringle’s girlfriend told investigators she had seen Pringle walk into the kitchen before the shooting. From another room, she said she heard Grant tell Pringle, “You splashed water on me.” She explained that Pringle often broke up ice to chew and may have splashed Grant while doing so.
Pringle’s girlfriend told police that things became heated and she tried to talk Pringle down when they left the house to smoke. But Pringle went back inside, she said. Pringle’s girlfriend said the male witness approached the two other men, and Grant told him to get out. The male witness joined Pringle’s girlfriend outside, but the two ran back inside after hearing “five to six gunshots.” That was when she found Pringle “unresponsive” on the kitchen floor. According to the affidavit, she believed Grant fled the house through his bedroom.
A search warrant was executed a few hours after the alleged shooting. Police said they found blood on the floor of the home’s entryway and a BB gun on the kitchen counter. They also found a black Smith & Wesson M&P Shield in another room, as well as 11 9 mm shell casings and “three projectiles.”
Police said the owner of the property provided Ring camera footage taken inside that house, which allegedly showed Grant firing his weapon toward the location where Pringle was found on the floor. Grant was allegedly captured on audio yelling, “He got a gun on him.”
When police interviewed Grant, he claimed that he feared for his life because Pringle was holding what Grant believed was a real gun. Grant told police that while he and Pringle had a “heated exchange of words” in the kitchen, Pringle continued to hold his gun in his hand. According to the affidavit, Grant said Pringle eventually put his gun in his waistband, but was still afraid because “he still had a gun.”
Police said Grant claimed that at the culmination of their confrontation, he thought, “It’s me or him, I guess,” even though he also told police that Pringle “never pointed a firearm at him.” Grant reportedly stated that the situation inside the home was “fine” until Pringle started living with them. He told police, “You can’t come in and dominate the house.”
At the end of the interview, Grant asked an officer, “I over-killed him, right?”
Grant was charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. He is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His next court date was not available.
