Edwards Found Guilty of First-Degree Murder in I-10 Shooting, Chase

State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Leroy Edwards Jr. guilty of First-Degree Murder, Attempted First-Degree Murder, Armed Robbery, and three counts of Attempted First-Degree Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer. Following the verdict, the Honorable Mark Borello sentenced Edwards to six consecutive life sentences in Florida State Prison.

On Dec. 19, 2019, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a truck stop gas station on U.S. 301 in the western part of Jacksonville near Interstate 10 in reference to a person shot. When they arrived, the first victim, Todd Phillips, was dead from a gunshot wound to the chest and back of the head. A second victim, Joseph Parcell, had been shot in the chest.

Edwards was immediately identified as the shooter, as he and the two victims were employed by the same trucking company and knew one another before the incident. Edwards had fled the scene by the time law enforcement arrived and led police on a pursuit that ended after Edwards fired several shots at officers on I-10.

The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Alan Mizrahi and Shaina Ruth.