JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrest report gives more insight about what an accused killer did in the hours after three people were stabbed to death May 28 on the city’s Westside.
Austin Fisher, 30, remained in Duval County jail Saturday facing three counts of second-degree murder and armed robbery.
He’s accused of using a pink kitchen knife in the slayings of 49-year-old Edwin Barber, Savannah Barber, 27, and Shad Cole, 37, after 3 a.m. in Jacksonville’s Normandy Estates neighborhood.
About 4 hours after the killings an Uber driver called 911 after a conversation with one of his passengers, an arrest report obtained by Action News Jax states.
The driver told Jacksonville police he received an Uber request under the name “Chase” with a pickup location on Lenox Avenue with a destination on Cottontail Lane, the report states.
After arriving at the home on Lenox Avenue, the Uber driver said a male believed to be “Chase” approached the vehicle and said he ordered the ride for his friend.
Shortly thereafter, Fisher exited the house and got into the Uber driver’s vehicle, the report states. The driver told police the passenger’s face was covered up when he entered the vehicle, the report states. Immediately upon entering the back seat, the suspect gave the driver a $100 cash tip, the report states.
About 4 minutes into the 17-minute trip, the driver told police he asked the passenger if he was OK to which he replied, “I basically snapped. I snapped man. I snapped,” the report states.
The suspect then claimed that he was bullied by one of the victims at the home on Exodus Way and he stabbed Shad Cole “like twelve times” the report states. He then stabbed another occupant at the home, Edwin Barber, in the stomach, “but he didn’t specify the number of times,” the driver told police according to the report.
The driver said Fisher told him that the two men ran away after they were stabbed “leaving a female behind” the report states.
The suspect said he then stabbed the female - Savannah Barber - “a couple of times” and he didn’t believe she survived, the report states.
Fisher asked the driver to take him to a corner store and buy “a shirt, a lighter, aluminum foil, 2 Gatorades” before dropping him off at his mother’s home on Cottontail Lane, the report states.
When they arrived at his mother’s house, no one was home, so the driver dropped Fisher off at Executive Inn, 6560, Ramona Blvd., Jacksonville, the report states.
“The Community Problem Response Unit and SWAT Team went to the motel to take Fisher into custody, but he refused to exit,” a May 29 Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office news release states. “After several hours in a standoff, JSO took Fisher into custody.”
The arrest reports recounts multiple interviews witnesses gave Jacksonville police in which the suspect said he stole cash and controlled substances prior to the stabbings, the report states.
“The investigation revealed the suspect Austin Lee Fisher, intentionally and with premeditation killed [the victims] by stabbing them multiple times, subsequently robbing the victims of US currency and controlled substances before fleeing the scene,” the report states.
Fisher is scheduled to be arraigned in Duval County Circuit Court on June 18.
Read: Mother says deadly triple stabbing in Jacksonville was over money: ‘I don’t understand it’
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
