JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police have arrested two Georgia men who they said killed a Jacksonville truck driver in a drug transaction last month.
Amato Scott, 24, and Dexter Bridges, 22, are charged with murder in the shooting death of 26-year-old Mario Smith.
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Police said Smith was meeting the two men from Adel, Ga., on April 7 in the 3600 block of Kirkpatrick Circle on the Westside. Police said they were conducting a drug transaction involving large amounts of marijuana.
Smith was shot in the head and killed, and the suspects stole the marijuana and took it back to Georgia and dispersed it, police said.
Detectives said they received information the men were from Georgia. The two were found and interviewed there, and both confessed to the killing, implicating the other as the shooter, police said.
"A witness came forward that was involved in the transaction, and he identified Amato as the shooter," said Lt. Rob Schoonover, of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Scott was charged with murder, and Bridges was charged with third-degree murder.
Police said Smith was a truck driver known to transport large amounts of marijuana across the state line.
"This wasn't a first-time deal," Schoonover said. "He had interactions with these individuals before."