HCSO investigators will serve a warrant on a Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) inmate and principal suspect in a shooting that followed a series of death threats made to a Brooksville resident in 2021.
Denise M. Moloney, media relations manager and public information officer (PIO) for the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), said that on Oct. 21, 2021, HCSO deputies responded to a report of a shooting on Union Street in Brooksville.
At the scene, the victim told deputies that they had received several death threats via email indicating that if they did not pay the sender $10,000, the sender would kill them. (Please note that HCSO did not specify the gender of the victim.)
When the victim did not make the payment, the perpetrator fired several shots into the residence and vehicle belonging to the victim.
Deputies found several shell casings at the scene.
Investigators later recovered a firearm that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) forensics laboratory later confirmed had been used in the shooting.
Detectives later identified Jason Wells, 34, someone known to the victim, as a suspect in the case.
HCSO detectives subsequently interviewed Wells at the FDC Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler, Fla., where he admitted to being involved in the shooting.
Based on that confession, along with evidence collected during their investigation, HCSO detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Wells on charges of extortion, written threats to kill, shooting into an occupied dwelling, possession of a firearm by a felon, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Detectives will serve the warrant on Wells at the Florida Department of Corrections facility in Lake Butler, where he is serving a 10-year sentence on unrelated charges.
Moloney said that he would appear in court in Hernando County to answer the shooting-related charges.
