Inset: Jermaine Carol Grant (Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: The neighborhood in Miami, Fla., where Jermaine Grant allegedly shot his roommate (Google Maps).
A Florida man tried to convince police that he acted in self-defense when he allegedly shot his roommate multiple times.
Jermaine Carol Grant, 32, is being held without bond after he made his first court appearance on Tuesday, two days after he allegedly shot and killed his roommate, 38-year-old Xavier Pringle. According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, police responded to reports of a shooting at a home in Miami, Florida, on Saturday night and found Pringle with multiple gunshot wounds. Police said that as first responders began lifesaving measures, they saw a weapon in Pringle”s waistband.
Police confirmed that it was a BB gun. They also said they found three spent shell casings.
Police said Pringle was brought to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
According to the affidavit, police spoke to two witnesses who were inside the house at the time, one of whom was Pringle’s girlfriend. The male witness reportedly told police, “Jermaine shot Xavier,” and said he heard about six “pops.” He then ran into the room where Pringle was and found him lying on the floor in a fetal position. The witness told police he began chest compressions.
Police said the witness told them that things had been “boiling up” in the household between Grant and Pringle.
When police spoke to Pringle’s girlfriend, she told them she saw Pringle go into the kitchen. From another room, she heard Grant tell Pringle, “You splashed water on me.” She explained that Pringle would break up ice to chew on, and he possibly splashed Grant while he was breaking up ice.
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.
