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BY KEITH EPPS and ELLEN BILTZ
A man accused of killing his two small children, their mother and himself Monday night in southern Stafford was heavily armed, police said.
Aaron Poseidon Jackson, 24, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was surrounded by guns and scads of ammunition when police found him dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday night in the Walt Lou Trailer Park off U.S. 1.
Before ending his own life, police said, Jackson took the lives of 23-year-old Lastasha Nicole Thomas and their two children—1½-year-old Aaron Neptune Jackson and 2½-year-old Nicole Aaron Jackson.
All four victims were shot in the head.
Thomas was shot with an AK-47 assault rifle, Sheriff Charles Jett said, while the others were shot with a .38-caliber handgun.
Thomas and Jackson were dead in the living room when police entered 7 Walt Way just south of Drew Middle School about 9:40 p.m.
The .38 was still in his hand, police said, and the AK-47 was lying nearby.
The children were lying in a crib in the bedroom they shared, Jett said. They were rushed out for emergency treatment, but pronounced dead a short time later.
Police later searched the trailer and seized at least seven guns, six knifes, a machete, a sword and numerous boxes of ammunition, according to a search warrant filed today in Stafford Circuit Court.
Jett said police at this point can only speculate as to why Jackson, who had a concealed handgun permit, had so much weaponry and what spurred his actions.
“We may never know,” Jett said. “There can be no explanation for this horrific and senseless tragedy.”
According to Jett, the couple had lived together at the trailer park for about six months. They may have lived at an apartment off U.S. 17 in Stafford before that, he said.
When Jackson was given a traffic ticket on April 24, his address was listed as 11537 Timothy Court in Spotsylvania, court records show.
Police said they were not aware of any serious criminal activity involving Jackson prior to Monday.
Jett said that as far as the Sheriff’s Office knew, the couple had no history of domestic violence. Neighbors said they didn’t know the couple well, but they seemed to get along OK.
But the investigation has revealed that Monday was anything but OK even before the fatal shootings.
According to sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy, Thomas had called a family member twice Monday to request that she be picked up. She told the relative that she’d been physically assaulted by Jackson.
But about 10 minutes before the shooting started, Kennedy said, the woman called the relative a third time and told her there was no need to come and that everything was OK.
The family member continued on to the trailer complex anyway and got no response when she knocked on the door.
She checked with a neighbor, who told her that he heard a gunshot coming from the trailer about 10 minutes before she arrived.
That was approximately the same time Thomas was telling the relative not to come, police noted.
Jett said police are looking into the possibility that Jackson forced Thomas to make that final phone call.
Police decided to force their way into the home after a deputy saw Jackson sitting on a couch with blood coming from his mouth, the affidavit states.
Dozens of officers and rescue workers soon responded to the carnage that was found.
Richard Atchley, the manager of the trailer park, said Thomas told him last week she and Jackson were not getting along and she was considering moving to Arizona.
Atchley said other than that, the family seemed happy.
“I’m really surprised,” Atchley said. “There didn’t seem to be anything wrong at all.”
Other neighbors in the park echoed Atchley’s remarks, saying the family seemed to be getting along fine.
“They acted like a normal family to me,” said Sally Jacobs, who drives an ice cream truck and whose mother lives in the trailer park.
“I sold them ice cream just the other day,” she said. “They got SpongeBob ice cream.”
A spent cartridge on top of a SpongeBob pillow was among the items taken from the house.
Kathy Anderson, director of Rappahannock Council on Domestic Violence said the possession of many weapons, especially used in a threatening manner, is a good sign of domestic violence.
Anderson also encourages anyone who may be or know a victim of domestic violence to call their hotline at 540/373-9373.
Keith Epps:
540/374-5404
kepps@freelancestar.com
