A man in Florida was arrested on the suspicion of murdering someone who he believed had placed a voodoo curse on him.
The Miramar Police Department confirmed that Narjay Jackson, 19, was charged with murder after a man who was shot dead at 8900 block of Southwest 19th Street on the morning of January 29.
According to The Sun Sentinel, Jackson was arrested about 12 hours after the body was discovered in the gated Village Walk community.
"We had [surveillance] video of the suspect in less than an hour and we identified him a few hours later," Miramar Police spokeswoman Tania Rues told The Sun Sentinel. "He was arrested that evening."
Jackson was allegedly seen riding up to the victim on a bicycle, waving his arms in order to get his attention. The pair then briefly talked before going behind a townhouse. Jackson can then be seen on surveillance footage riding away.
A witness told police they heard several gunshots then saw a man tuck something into his waistband before fleeing the scene on a bicycle.
According to a police report seen by The Sun Sentinel and NBC, detectives were able to identify the victim—whose name was not revealed—and contacted two of his friends.
The pair identified Jackson from the surveillance footage.
Police then staked out a home in the 7100 block of Pershing Street in Hollywood and waited for Jackson. When he left the address, he was wearing the same red sandals and riding the same red mountain bike as the suspect in the video.
Jackson's mother also confirmed to police that he is the one seen riding the bicycle in the footage.
Police were able to track Jackson's cellphone records after his mother gave detectives his number.
On the morning of the shooting, a text from Jackson's phone to the victim at 6:47 a.m. read, "Yuh dead today."
Later that morning, two more texts were sent to the victim. The first one at 8:20 a.m. read "Sliding to u," with a second one sent 25 minutes later reading "Slide to the gate," to which the victim replied "'Ight" [all right].
Reus said that detectives believe the motive for the shooting was that Jackson thought the victim "placed a voodoo curse on him," without elaborating. The Miramar Police Department have been contacted for further comment.
Jackson was later booked into the Broward County Jail where he was being held without bond.
