A Florida father who shot his 5-year-old daughter in the head and critically wounded his 8-year-old son will spend the rest of his life in prison after a judge rejected his claims that the shooting was an accident.
Jermaine Lavanda Bass, 32, was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of his daughter, Jaylah, and attempted murder of his son, J.J. Despite the horrific details of the case, Bass stood before the judge at his sentencing and declared, “I’m a good person.”
But prosecutors—and the judge—strongly disagreed.
A Night That Shattered a Family
On August 29, 2022, Bass called 911 from his Tampa home, telling dispatchers that his son had been shot. When deputies arrived, they found J.J. bleeding from a gunshot wound to his head, but miraculously still alive.
Upstairs, 5-year-old Jaylah lay lifeless in her bed, killed by three bullets to the head. Nearby, investigators discovered a Glock handgun tucked inside a dresser drawer.
Neighbors told police they had heard multiple gunshots around 10:30 p.m., followed by screaming. The children’s mother, Shirley Bass, was not home at the time.
“It Was an Accident”—But the Evidence Says Otherwise
From the moment of his arrest, Bass insisted that the shooting was a tragic mistake. He claimed that he had been trying to unload his gun, and it “just went off.”
But forensic experts and prosecutors dismantled that claim in court. The shots were precise, deliberate, and impossible to explain away as an accident. The three bullets that struck Jaylah were all aimed at her head, and J.J. had also been shot in the head but survived.
At his sentencing, Judge Samantha Ward looked directly at Bass and told him she did not believe his story.
“You say you’re a good person,” she said. “But good people don’t shoot their children in the head.”
A Mother’s Heartbreak
As Bass sat stone-faced in court, the children’s mother, Shirley Bass, spoke through tears. She begged for answers—answers that may never come.
“Why?” she asked. “You were supposed to protect them. How could you do this?”
Her surviving son, J.J., now 10 years old, is still recovering from the physical and emotional trauma. He will live with the permanent scars of that night, both inside and out.
Justice Served, But No Closure
Bass was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case has left the Tampa community shaken, with many struggling to understand how a father could do something so unthinkable.
For Shirley Bass, the sentencing brings some justice—but not peace. She still has to wake up every day knowing that one of her children is gone forever, and the other will carry this trauma for life.