Orange County deputies arrested a 68-year-old man accused of shooting another man who showed up at his home to retrieve a key from a woman a judge ordered him not to contact.
Shortly after midnight on Monday, deputies say Jesse James Hill shot Lionel Nelson Jr., 43, in the head on a residential street in the Holden Heights neighborhood. Orange County Fire Rescue transported Nelson, who was critically injured, to Orlando Regional Medical Center. Nelson has since died from his injuries.
Police arrested Hill after a woman who was living on the same property identified him as Nelson’s shooter, according to the arrest affidavit. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office initially charged Hill with attempted second-degree murder with a firearm but elevated the charge to second-degree murder after Nelson’s death.
Nelson was arrested and charged with domestic battery by strangulation in January after he was accused of choking the same woman who witnessed his death. Deputies say Nelson grabbed the woman’s face and “smashed it into the bed.” He also threatened to drown her in the bathtub, according to the arrest warrant. An Orange-Osceola Circuit Court judge ordered Nelson in January not to contact the woman, even if she “would like to have contact,” with him, records show.
The woman, a 31-year-old who had been staying in a shed in the backyard of a home in the 900 block of 25th Street, said Nelson, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, contacted her and asked for his house key, according to the affidavit. She asked him to meet her down the street. But a few minutes later, she heard Nelson, who was in front of the residence, calling her name.
The woman told deputies Hill was aware Nelson was ordered not to contact her and was “very upset” she was meeting with him. As Nelson stood outside the residence, she saw Hill emerge from the home with a rifle, she told deputies. The woman said she told Hill several times, “Please don’t shoot him,” and took the rifle from Hill. She said the men got in a physical fight and Hill took the rifle back from her. Nelson ran west on 25th Street and tripped over a large garage can at the end of the driveway. The woman said she ran behind the men and caught up to Nelson, who was lying on the ground. She told deputies watched Hill stand over him and fire one round at Nelson, striking him in the head.
The woman said she started screaming and Hill told her, “Don’t tell the police,” according to the affidavit. He returned to the residence on 25th Street. The woman called 911, staying with Nelson until the paramedics and law enforcement arrived. She also provided photos of Hill entering the house with a rifle in his hands.
After Hill was taken to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office headquarters on West Colonial Drive for questioning, deputies searched his home and found a rifle on top of a china cabinet in his room. Deputies also showed a photo of Hill to the woman living on his property, who identified him as Nelson’s shooter.
anmartin@orlandosentinel.com
