Last Call shooting suspect arrested
Topeka resident was in Kentucky with relatives
The suspect in Sunday’s shooting in front of Last Call in downtown Lawrence was arrested Friday night in Hopkinsville, Ky.
According to Lawrence police Capt. David Cobb, Carlos Jerome Jackson, 26, Topeka, was arrested at the home of relatives by Hopkinsville police and agents from the U.S. Marshals Service. He is being held in the Christian County Jail.
Jackson has been accused in a felony arrest warrant with three counts of aggravated battery in the shootings of two Last Call employees and a 15-year-old patron of the private club at 729 N.H.
Cobb said Lawrence police are trying to determine whether Jackson will fight extradition to Lawrence.
“We’ll see what we have to do to get him here,” he said.
Cobb said Lawrence police, during their investigation of Jackson, determined he had relatives living in Kentucky. Police there watched the relatives’ home, then made the arrest Friday night.
Two Topeka women – Sherise Spears, 20, and Sonda M. Washington, 30 – are accused of helping Jackson after the shooting.
Lawrence police said both women were in the getaway car with the gunman. Spears is charged in Douglas County District Court with aiding and abetting an aggravated battery, while Washington faces a charge of aiding a felon.
The shooting – at 3 a.m. Sunday – at Last Call led the private club’s owner to say on Thursday that he was closing its doors as a hip-hop music venue. And city officials are exploring the possibility of imposing stricter regulations on entertainment businesses in Lawrence. Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said earlier this week that he also was contemplating action against the owners of the building that houses Last Call.
The private club lost its liquor license late last year, but club owner Dennis Steffes had been operating it since as a bring-your-own-alcohol establishment.
Jackson has a long criminal history. Nine years ago, he was convicted of felony first-degree murder in Shawnee County. The conviction stemmed from the shooting death of 24-year-old Dennis R. Campbell, Topeka. Topeka police said Campbell was shot after a deal involving marijuana turned into an attempted robbery.
Jackson also was convicted of aggravated robbery. He was 17 when he was sentenced to a correctional facility. Because of a law that allowed him to be sentenced as a juvenile and an adult, he was held until he was 23, Shawnee County District Attorney Robert Hecht said. Normally someone convicted in juvenile court is held until age 21.
Jackson also currently has drug charges pending against him in Shawnee County, Hecht said. They include possession of narcotics with intent to sell and not having a drug tax stamp.