Loved ones gather to remember Fort Myers Beach shooting victim

Family and friends gathered on Fort Myers Beach Thursday evening to remember a man shot and killed there a year ago.

Investigators are still looking for the person who gunned down 22-year-old Johnny Jackson on the beach side of the Lani Kai resort.

Jackson’s mother said she had been dreading Thursday. No parent ever wants to lose a child, and coming to the beach where her son took his last breath, reminds her of that feeling.

Thomasina Daniels said the day was about remembering her son, though, and celebrating his life. To do that, she visited the beach Wednesday to mourn before returning for Thursday’s gathering.

“And then I’m like, OK, I got to figure out how to make this instead of a sad, gloomy, fearful day, how to make this a happy day.”

Daniels is doing everything she can to track down her son’s killer, including have four billboards put up in Lee County, hoping those will be four more chances she will find her son’s killer.

“Today is the day that my son was murdered at the Lani Kai,” Daniels said. “I’m going to be a voice for my son until he gets justice.”

Johnny’s mom has also sent out flyers, hired a private investigators and came up with a respectable reward for information that will lead her to the individual who murdered her son.

“Thirty-three thousand dollar reward, you know, and if you’ve seen anything you know, and you can be there until that person is convicted,” Daniels said.

The voices of Johnny’s family gathered, and they remembered and celebrated the man who brought so much light to their lives.

“That was the biggest thing that I remember him for, that smile,” cousin Andrew Layton said. “Every picture you see, he’s gonna make sure you saw all 32 teeth.”

“He was the energy, he was the force, the love of the family,” Daniels said.