The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is investigating what appears to be the accidental shooting of an 11-year-old boy in Daytona North by Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy Bryan Jackson or another deputy–his daughter–both of whom had been target-shooting on Jackson’s property nearby. The boy suffered a burn, but was not seriously hurt.
The incident took place in the early evening of Aug. 27. Jackson and his daughter, Kailen, who was sworn-in as a deputy just weeks ago and was just issued an agency rifle, were target-shooting together. Bryan Jackson told a deputy that he had fired the shot that ended up in the neighbor’s house. The bullet was from the rifle.
Both Jacksons are still fulfilling their regular duties pending further investigation by the agency’s Investigative Services Division, the Sheriff’s Chief Mark Strobridge said. Jackson works in the Community Engagement division. Kailen Jackson is a road deputy.
According to a report by Sheriff’s deputy Paige Blake, 11-year-old J.B. was lying on his bed with his head propped up by pillows, playing video games, when he heard a loud crack come from outside of the room and “felt something burn his neck.” He swatted it with his wrist. He told Blake “it sounded like the projectile hit metal and stopped after burning him.” He didn’t see anyone standing outside nor hear anything before or after the crack.
His mother Mary Buckner was in the dining room when her 11-year-old son came out of his room to tell her he’d been hit by something. His 7-year-old sister was with his mother “when she heard what sounded like a gunshot,” the report states. She then “saw her brother run out of his room saying that he got shot.” The girl claims she saw “a man standing [at a nearby property] with a long gun propped up on a stand.” She couldn’t say who the man was, but that the gun was either black or green.
The Buckners live at 1288 Hazelnut Street. Jackson lives on Mahogany Boulevard, at the south end of the same triangular block rimmed by Hazelnut to the east, Elder Street to the west, and Canal Avenue to the north. The Buckners’ property is about halfway up the block. Private shooting ranges are neither uncommon nor illegal in unincorporated Flagler County.
Mary went to her son’s room to investigate and “noticed a hole in the top right-hand corner of the room and that a pair of jeans that were sitting on the dresser were knocked off by the projectile,” according to a Flagler County Sheriff’s report. She “screamed out” to her husband that her son had been shot and to come help.
Johnney Buckner, her husband, told his wife to call 911 and tried to find the origin of the gunshot. He “asked people in the area he knows are avid shooters if they had been shooting,” the report states, contacting Jackon, who lives about four houses down.
Jackson, the report continues, got to the Buckners’ house shortly Blake had gotten there, “and was extremely apologetic, and stated he was shooting at his small berm on his property with his daughter who just got a new rifle,” according to the report. Jackson “stated he was doing target practice, and the bullet must have ricocheted off the target and landed in the home. Bryan stated he was shooting .556 rounds.”
Jackson just marked his 12th anniversary with the agency. The report does not explain why he was firing with his daughter’s rifle, what weapon she had been using, why she was not at the scene or was not interviewed.
Other nearby residents told Blake “they did not see anyone or anything strange in the area, but heard rapid gunshots coming from what sounded like the back right hand of their property.”
The bullet was not recovered. The sheriff’s Investigative Services Division reported to the scene that evening and took over the investigation, which is ongoing.
“There’s more to this,” Strobridge said, but the investigation was ongoing. He said once completed, the investigation will be turned over to the State Attorney’s Office and an internal inquiry will follow.
Jackson’s property, and Jackson himself, were in the public eye in a previous incident that involved Jackson’s son, Jayden. It was to the Mahogany Boulevard house that Jayden drove and kept his father’s car after Jayden had been involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed Shaunta D. Cain, 51, on U.S. 1, near Plantation Bay, in November 2022. The prosecution argued Jayden had been impaired at the time of the crash and covered it up subsequently.
Bryan Jackson eventually informed a supervisor that his son may have been involved in the crash under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol but initially denied FHP’s request to seize and search the vehicle.
Jackson said in testimony under oath at his son’s sentencing that he wasn’t home at the time of the crash. Questioned by a clearly exasperated Jason Lewis, the assistant state attorney, Jackson said he’d received a text from his son informing him of the crash, but couldn’t remember if it was light or dark. He said he was in Miami. “One of the FBI agents was murdered and we went and did his funeral,” Jackson said, and that he called his supervisor after the funeral, and returned to Flagler County. (There was no funeral involving an FBI agent in Miami–or anywhere in Florida–in 2022, the year of the hit-and-run. The last such funeral in the state took place in February 2021, for Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Ann Schwartzenberger. The only funeral for a law enforcement officer in Florida that November was in Charlotte County, for Deputy Sheriff Christopher Taylor, but it took place on Nov. 30, three days after the hit-and-run crash.)
Jayden Jackson pleaded to leaving the scene of an accident with a death and in June was sentenced to five years in prison.
TR says
There are questions I will withhold asking until the investigation is over. Hopefully FL will do a follow up and keep us posted. But one thing I’m having trouble with is how many 7 year olds know what a gun shot sounds like? Even some adults have a problem sometimes trying to tell the difference from a gun shot and some form of fireworks. Glad this was more serious.
Taxpayer says
When dod it become legal to target practice in your yard around other houses??? Or do fcso deputies get special treatment?? He should be fired and punished to the full penalty of the law!!! Anyone else would be
JimboXYZ says
FCSO deputies should know better that their own recreational gun play should still be done at a range. Surprises me that these 2 officers aren’t suspended at the very least, if they haven’t already been fired. Unacceptable for anyone else to shoot a firearm like that, why would FCSO treat this like an accident, when they knew the risks for target shooting in an unauthorized area. Nobody wants to hear that it’s not against the law in a rural community with enough land to seem to have your own gun range & hunting preserve. I wouldn’t seek to ban guns over this, just the one’s that are that irresponsible to be discharging a firearm.
Doug says
I’m all for guns, and shooting them responsibly. I’m also retired from Law Enforcement after 34 years and very familiar with the .556 round. Deputy Jackson and his daughter should know the ballistics of a .556 round, especially with other houses nearby. Unbelievably irresponsible on their part and an embarrassment to the FCSO.
FlaglerLive says
@ Taxpayer It’s legal depending on zoning. It’s legal in Daytona North, and the deputy had proper precautions built in for an experienced shooter.
Jim says
If I got this right…. This guy testified at his son’s sentencing that he was in Miami for an FBI agent’s funeral when, in fact, that did not happen?
Two reasons for my curiosity. One, if he lied under oath at his son’s trial, why hasn’t he been brought up on charges for that? And, two, if he did lie in that trial, I’d have a lot of trouble putting much faith in anything he has to say about this incident. (And, three, now that I think of it… If he did lie in his son’s trial, how is still on the police force? If nothing else, any time this guy has to testify in court, the opposition attorney should have a field day tearing into him about credibility.)
I don’t know what really happened here but I will say that when you pull the trigger on a gun, you are responsible for where that bullet ends up. Thank God that this child wasn’t seriously injured. However, I wonder how comfortable he, his parents and his sister will be in their house from now on after such an incident. Strobridge says they are investigating. It’ll be interesting to see what the final story ends up.
Taxpayer says
Jackson was just sworn in a few weeks ago? What kind of weapons training has he had? This sounds like carelessness with Jackson as well as Staley’s FCSO and can’t wait to hear the investigation results.
No name mondex says
When I first moved to Daytona North I was told by several people that it is legal to shoot on your property if you had a back stop, but that you could not shoot a rifle only a handgun. so I questioned the sheriffs department about this. I was told that I could not shoot a rifle . that I could only shoot a handgun unless I had a really thick and tall backstop because a rifle round can go further than the one + acre. And it had to be placed so the chance of the round not going into someone’s home. If you happen to have a larger lot you still have to consider your neighbors when building the backstop. I talked to other people who said you have to have a backstop that is fully capable of stopping the rounds that you’re firing otherwise you could be sued or arrested if someone gets hurt.
FlaglerLive says
@Taxcpayer, Kailen Jackson was sworn in a few weeks ago. Bryan Jackson just marked his 12th year with the agency.
Lance Carroll says
In my experience, a .556 firearm should be discharged at a rifle range. Rifle range dimensions, layout, are far different than a common gun range, where handguns are discharged and certification/recertification occurs for law enforcement….
The rifle range set up takes into account the bore and velocity of a rifle ammunition. That being noted, a rifle range is far deeper in distance and, I believe, requires a higher elevation of burn around rifle range, as compared to a pistol range.
If I have missed the facts or incorrectly described the difference, please, feel free to correct me?
Gator says
Unfortunately our neighbors down the street we’re very reckless and careless and shot our house up and my wife’s horse trailer and our neighbor car windshield 3 years ago and the sheriff’s put our neighbors at fault and when my wife sent our neighbor a message to get their insurance information for we can get our are damages paid for… Got a text back don’t contact me or my husband again thank you we were ghosted..so we pursued charges unfortunately assisted State attorney Susan Bexley failed to show the judge evidence to where it was dismissed which is prosecutional misconduct and if the sheriff’s department would have charged our neighbors correctly with a felony we probably would have got restitution… Corruption is real in this county and I can prove it with documentation we have a two-tier justice system in this County our neighbor that shot our house happens to be a realtor that sells property in the gated community that our sheriff lives in and I would bet she was his realtor when he bought his house is that not a coincidence.all we asked for from the state attorney is for our neighbors to go to a gun safety class and our damage paid for we shouldn’t be responsible for people’s careless and reckless shooting.. people should be held accountable for Their reckless and careless actions there needs to be laws to keep your rounds on your property… Karma struck my reckless and careless neighbor yesterday early morning someone stole a gun out of his unluck truck as a gun owner that’s very ill responsible and it should be a crime… And if my neighbor would have had to take a gun safety course he probably would have learned how to lock his truck up…. He claims to be ex-military kind of hard to believe with his reckless and careless actions…
JS says
It’s crazy to me that it is legal to target practice on a 1 acre lot in a residential area such as Daytona North. I’ve long believed that it is simply not enough room. This incident proves to me that it is not safe. If this can happen to trained law enforcement officers, it’s just a matter of time before it happens again. I’m not against guns, but am for protecting my family from the drunk guy down the street that likes to target practice in the middle of the night. The law needs to be changed.
Concerned Citizen says
Nothing will amount from this.
The good ol boy network thrives in Flagler County. Staly has a big broom and a large rug. This will be swept under just like a lot of other things have. Deputy Jackson has the wrong skin color to do wrong here.
Theresa Berger says
To Jim,
Why would Deputy Jackson need to lie about his whereabouts on the night of his son’s hit and run accident? And to make up a story that it was a FBI agent’s funeral would seem like an outlandish tale if it weren’t true. Perhaps the decedent was a former FBI agent from several years ago and what the deputy said on the stand was misconstrued.