JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was able to arrest a 19-year-old man accused of murder thanks to the help of an informant who wore a recording device in jail.
The new details about the investigation into Colton Moore were revealed Monday in an arrest report obtained by News4JAX.
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Moore, who was already in custody on unrelated charges, was arrested Saturday in connection with the shooting death of a 16-year-old that happened in Mandarin in December 2023.
Pitts was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Coopers Hawk Apartment homes on Old St Augustine Road on Dec. 30, 2023.
For weeks, Pitts’ family had been looking for answers, but according to JSO, Moore quickly became the target of its investigation.
On the night of the shooting, JSO said there was a large party that happened at another apartment complex nearby but the party moved to Coopers Hawk after the young crowd was chased out by security. A witness said the address for the party was posted on social media.
When the group went to the Coopers Hawk, witnesses told JSO that word spread the party was going “to get shot up.” A fight broke out between two groups and someone wearing a black ski mask and black gloves pulled out a gun and started shooting. At least 10 shots were fired, and Pitts was hit by one.
JSO had multiple tips through First Coast Crime Stoppers on the shooting, and that led them to Moore. He was on 12-month probation after pleading guilty to car theft in September.
When detectives visited Moore on Feb. 6, they found loose bullets in his apartment, so he was arrested for possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.
JSO later had an inmate wear a recording device and talk to Moore in jail. What Moore said to the informant was redacted in his arrest report, but the statements Moore made to the inmate, along with physical evidence and statements from witnesses, were enough to charge him with murder, JSO said.