Police make arrest in December 2012 killing

Walter Nicholson's shooting death was last Jacksonville homicide of 2012

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office booking photo of Ruben Palmer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of a 20-year-old man in the Dec. 30, 2012 shooting death of 31-year-old Walter Nicholson.

Ruben Palmer, who has been in jail since 2013 on unrelated robbery and assault charges, was charged with murder, armed robbery and kidnapping in Nicholson's death.

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Police said Nicholson was found with a gunshot wound on a front porch on Mar Vic Lane. He was taken to UF Health Jacksonville, where he died.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at the time described his death as a drive-by shooting and asked the public for help solving the crime.

According to the police report, detectives learned Nicholson's vehicle was missing. When it was found at the Pelican Point Apartments on Dunn Avenue -- less than a mile away from the shooting scene -- investigators recovered a drink bottle that produced DNA that matched that of Palmer.

A witness at the apartment complex told police she saw four young people kicking and beating someone and trying to pull him out of the driver's seat of that car. According to the police report, she identified Palmer as one of those attackers.

In announcing the arrest, police said Palmer met Nicholson online and set up a meeting at the apartment complex where he and the others were waiting.

Nicholson's shooting death was the last homicide of 2012 and the last of five drive-by shootings in Jacksonville that year.