Jackson L. Pierce murdered Dalton Coleman, cops said. (Mug shot: St. Peters Police Department)
A man allegedly claimed that he shot a belligerent man at his home on Monday, but instead of going to authorities, he and a juvenile wrapped the victim’s body in an air mattress.
“Dog, I shoulda f—ing called the cops myself,” Jackson L. Pierce, 18, said after authorities arrived at the scene, according to the probable cause statement from St. Charles County, Missouri, obtained by Law&Crime. “I shoulda called the cops myself, bro … I am, I am dumb as f—.”
Cops in the city of St. Peters identified the victim in a Facebook post as Dalton Coleman, 23, of the city of O’Fallon.
Pierce is charged with murder in the second degree, armed criminal action, and tampering with evidence, records state. He is being held on a $1 million cash-only bond at the St. Charles County Jail. Cops said the juvenile’s case is being processed through St. Charles County Family Court.
The incident landed on law enforcement radar after an attorney for Pierce’s housemate contacted them, documents state. According to police, this man said he left the home in the early afternoon on Monday to help a friend with her business in St. Louis City. Pierce, Coleman (whom court documents did not name), and the juvenile stayed at the home.
He said that Pierce soon called him while he was en route to help the friend; Pierce allegedly complained about the victim, in the words of the affidavit, “asking for unknown belongings and other erratic behavior.”
“The witness stated that he attempted to calm the situation over the phone, by speaking to both of them; ultimately telling Pierce to collect items of value, including a firearm which was kept in a cabinet above the microwave in the kitchen, and store them in his room,” documents said.
Pierce, however, allegedly called him minutes later to describe having shot and killed the victim.
He and the juvenile had gone into a bedroom to distance themselves from the man, but this man forced his way into the bedroom, Pierce said in documents.
In this account, the victim missed punching Pierce, and they struggled over the gun which had been left in the open of the bedroom.
Pierce allegedly claimed that “victim 1 was shot” during the struggle. In this account, the victim was struck three to four times but did not go down, so Pierce kept shooting him. The defendant allegedly admitted to shooting the man 14 times.
The witness described telling Pierce to call the cops; Pierce refused. The witness said he was going to contact his lawyer to find out what to do; the lawyer and witness called cops about the killing.
A SWAT team arrived and had Pierce and the juvenile step out of the home.
Post-Miranda, Pierce allegedly admitted there was a dead person in the residence.
Executing a search warrant, the SWAT team found a rolled-up air mattress, tightly tied and wrapped with an electrical cord cut from a lamp inside an upstairs bedroom closet, documents said. The victim had been wrapped in the air mattress with a white plastic garbage bag around his head.
As apparent in documents, Pierce allegedly told a similar story to investigators after getting his Miranda rights again.
According to cops, he told them that the victim forced his way into an upstairs bedroom, and there was a physical altercation.
“Pierce stated that the victim was attempting to strike him, when Pierce observed the victim look at the firearm, which had been left in the open on a bedside table, and appear to move towards it,” cops said.
Pierce allegedly said he shot the man in the abdomen, but the victim did not go down.
In this account, he fired 14 times until the gun was empty, and the victim did not fall until the final shot.
“Pierce stated that the victim never touched the firearm,” police said.
He and the juvenile allegedly tried cleaning the scene using towels and dish soap. He admitted that he and the juvenile put the victim in the air mattress and moved him to a different bedroom.
The preliminary autopsy found approximately 15 gunshot wounds to the man’s abdomen, hand, and face, documents stated.
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