Wife Realizes Her Husband Is a Wanted Killer| JCS Inspired Interrogation

Added: 2026-06-07

[00:00:00]James Blackman looked at a detective and said exactly what a frightened man would say.

[00:00:04]>> He had the gun right to my face, man. I had to pull the trigger and I unloaded that [ __ ] too.

[00:00:09]>> The detective didn't flinch. He just kept asking questions because he already knew what was sitting on that back porch railing. A magazine sat down deliberately by Christopher before he walked back inside. A man preparing to kill doesn't disarm himself first. Then James said something that cracked everything open.

[00:00:27]>> I lost my mind after I shot him. I bet.

[00:00:31]>> I guess I was seeking vengeance on the one that made it all start.

[00:00:35]>> Vengeance, not survival. And later, almost in a whisper.

[00:00:39]>> Did I hurt anybody else besides my son?

[00:00:43]>> A man in genuine shock doesn't manage his damage report, but a man constructing a story does. The detective never raised his voice. He simply let James Blackman talk until the truth buried the lie. Welcome, or welcome back to my channel. Thanks to the law enforcement agency for providing us the footage of this case. We are trying our best to improve our content. So, your review about our video means a lot to us.

[00:01:08]December 18th, 2020, Pensacola, Florida, 1:10 in the afternoon. The street was quiet. It always was. Pacqua Drive was a deadend road. The kind of street where nothing was supposed to happen. Inside, something was breaking. It had been building for months. A household held together by fraying threads. A mother working 12-hour shifts to keep the lights on. Her 38-year-old son Christopher living in a camper outback with his girlfriend Samantha and her ex-husband James sleeping in the bedroom at the end of the hall. A man with fractured mental health, a stockpile of firearms, and a fuse that had been burning quietly for years. That afternoon, someone lit the match. An argument between Christopher and Samantha pulled everyone in. Voices rose. Door slammed and then James Blackman appeared in the hallway with a gun in his hand. Christopher knocked it away, walked outside, removed the magazine, set it down on the porch railing like a man trying to end something. He should have kept walking.

[00:02:07]Instead, he heard his mother's voice, panicked, desperate, and he went back inside. James had already found another gun. What followed lasted seconds. Linda threw herself between them. It didn't matter. The shots came fast and didn't stop until there was nothing left to fire. Christopher Ran fell in the hallway of his mother's home. A bullet through his forehead, more in his chest, and he didn't get up. Then James walked to the back door, crossed the yard, and fired seven rounds into the camper where Samantha was hiding. Then he got his car and drove away. A neighbor heard what she thought was a roofing crew. Then she looked out her window and saw a sports car disappear down the road. Deputies flooded the radio. in route. Not come to me, but to look for the vehicle. A red >> a Challenger.

[00:02:52]>> Red Challenger. Have ted windows or anything?

[00:02:54]>> Uh, tinted windows. There's no guns on.

[00:02:58]>> Red Challenger. Tinted windows.

[00:03:01]>> Is it red or is it orange?

[00:03:05]>> Is it red or an orange car?

[00:03:08]>> Orange.

[00:03:09]>> Is it orange or red?

[00:03:10]>> It's orange.

[00:03:11]>> The whole neighborhood was trying to place a car that was already gone. By the time sirens reached Pacqua Drive, one man was dead, a woman had crawled to safety through a rear hatch, and a mother was standing barefoot on a front porch, waving down deputies with nothing left to save. A gun was found on the back porch. James Blackman came back 20 minutes later. He pulled onto the street, got out of the car, and lowered himself to the ground. When deputies moved in, he didn't resist. He just started talking.

[00:03:39]>> I didn't mean to kill him. He pulled a gun on me.

[00:03:44]He left me. I got it.

[00:03:46]>> And then I flipped out after that. I'm sorry.

[00:03:49]>> He left. He left me going on me.

[00:03:52]>> There's no way.

[00:03:53]>> I got Don't Don't move. Don't even move.

[00:03:55]>> I'm sorry.

[00:03:56]>> You're good. You're good.

[00:03:57]>> I'm being peaceful. I'm not going to price you in any way.

[00:04:00]>> Dude, you're good.

[00:04:00]>> I came back to turn myself in. I tried to turn myself in down the road.

[00:04:04]>> You're good.

[00:04:05]>> There's a state trooper at the church down there. I tried to turn myself. He told me to come back here.

[00:04:10]>> Sit you on your butt. Ready?

[00:04:12]>> He's been trying to kill me for years, >> okay?

[00:04:14]>> And it finally came to >> his girlfriend started it all.

[00:04:19]>> Deputies cuffed him on the pavement. He asked if he could put underwear on before going to jail. He asked if his wife was okay. He asked him not to shoot him and then on the ride to the sheriff's office, sitting handcuffed in the back seat, broken hips, off his medication, struggling to breathe. He kept talking.

[00:04:37]>> I lost my mind after I shot him.

[00:04:39]>> How?

[00:04:42]I guess I was seeking vengeance on the one that made it all start.

[00:04:46]That's all I can say, sir.

[00:04:48]>> I was in temporary madness.

[00:04:50]>> Okay.

[00:04:52]>> But he tried to kill me and I got really scared.

[00:04:55]>> Yes, sir.

[00:04:57]>> He had to go right to my face. I didn't know if he was going to pull the trigger. He's crazy.

[00:05:05]And I'm crazy. We're both crazy. But that don't mix, you know.

[00:05:09]>> He asked for a Bible. He asked for a pair of glasses to read it. He asked if they were going to put him to death. He asked deputies to put in their report that he had surrendered without incident. He asked them to tell Linda he loved her.

[00:05:20]>> And tell her I deeply am sorry about killing her son >> and my son, but he would have killed her and eventually he's crazy.

[00:05:32]I was afraid for her safety, too. By the time the car reached the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, James Blackman had already told his story, the whole shape of it to every deputy who would listen.

[00:05:43]What he hadn't counted on was the room waiting for him inside, and the detective who already knew the evidence didn't match a single word of it. So, cops brought James in for the interrogation.

[00:05:57]>> Thank you.

[00:05:58]>> I know you're not.

[00:05:58]>> See, I told you I told you everybody's going to be just as nice as me. I I'm >> Nobody's going to be mean to you. Man, >> I deserve this.

[00:06:09]>> Well, we'll get out.

[00:06:12]>> The first weapon the detective deploys isn't a question. It's kindness, coffee, reassurance, a promise that nobody here will be mean to him. James has just walked into the most dangerous room of his life. And it feels like the friendliest.

[00:06:26]>> Yes, I know. I appreciate it.

[00:06:28]>> Absolutely, sir.

[00:06:34]I never wanted to come to this.

[00:06:36]>> No, sir.

[00:06:36]>> I wanted to be away from that place. I was trying to move. I was trying to do everything to get away from there because of that boy.

[00:06:42]>> Yes, sir.

[00:06:44]>> I know James loved Chris dearly.

[00:06:47]>> I cannot believe James done this.

[00:06:51]And you know, he loved Chris. They've been getting along so good.

[00:06:56]all over a fit of anger because they were both mad about this fighting with Samantha and Chris.

[00:07:03]>> James has now said twice that killing Chris was almost a public service. But Linda, who lived in that house, who watched those two men together for decades, doesn't describe a ticking time bomb. She describes two men who had been getting along well right up until the morning it all fell apart. The monster James is describing now is one he needs to exist.

[00:07:24]I just knew it was going to come to this. I just knew it. I just couldn't help it. I couldn't stop it. I couldn't stop it.

[00:07:34]Just a matter of time. It just run out of time.

[00:07:38]>> You put shoes on.

[00:07:39]>> I really thought the world would kill that boy.

[00:07:42]>> Mhm.

[00:07:42]>> Before I had to understand.

[00:07:45]>> I'm sorry. I really did.

[00:07:48]>> He's been diagnosed so many years. I kept saying, "You got me problems. You need to go get help." So he did actually go to jail. And I think they deemed it bipolar, schizophrenic, I don't know at all. But once he gets, you know, I call it wig out, I'm sure he's seen bipolar people going off. Once he gets in that stage, there's like no talking to him. And he scares me when he gets like that.

[00:08:16]>> Has James ever been violent before?

[00:08:19]Um, he has threatened my life before in front of other people.

[00:08:24]>> In the very first minutes of his arrest, James positions himself as a man the system failed. Someone who asked for help and was turned away. Linda tells a different story. She was the one pushing him toward treatment. She was the one who noticed when he stopped taking his medication. She was the one who quietly absorbed his threats for years. James didn't fall through the cracks. The people around him just kept catching him until they couldn't anymore.

[00:08:50]Here you go, James.

[00:08:55]I'll >> be right back with you, buddy. Okay.

[00:08:57]>> Yes, sir.

[00:09:10]>> Do you know what day it is?

[00:09:12]>> Yes, sir. What day is it? It's Friday.

[00:09:14]>> It's Friday.

[00:09:15]>> Yes, sir.

[00:09:30]>> Do you know what the date is?

[00:09:32]>> Yes, sir. It's the 18th.

[00:09:52]Is there any way they can be my medicine?

[00:09:55]>> You you can ask them about that in just a minute and I'm sure they'll try to make whatever accommodations they can.

[00:10:00]Okay.

[00:10:01]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:02]>> Everything went okay there.

[00:10:04]>> Okay. Good. Good.

[00:10:07]>> I didn't want to hurt nobody. No, >> I just I don't know what happened. I just lost my mind.

[00:10:13]>> He come behind her and I seen the other guns and I would just try to lock myself in and that's where you see all the bullet holes, right? He was trying to shoot me.

[00:10:23]>> James has just painted himself as a man who snapped in pure terror. But Samantha is describing something different.

[00:10:30]Someone who shot one person, then immediately turned and hunted for a second. Terror doesn't search for new targets. Rage does.

[00:10:39]I ran outside. I think I tried to kill that [ __ ] that he's with for starting it all.

[00:10:46]I was guilty of that.

[00:10:49]I'm guilty of that. I would confess it.

[00:10:51]I must have lost my mind, but I don't know what I was doing.

[00:10:56]Between the time that you last saw him, when he came out the back door and then when he started shooting at the trailer, how much time do you think was between those two incident?

[00:11:09]>> Not even enough to [ __ ] sneeze.

[00:11:12]>> James wants the jury to believe there was a blackout between killing Chris and shooting at the camper. A blank he can't account for. Samantha was the one locked inside that camper. She says there was no gap, no pause, no dissociation. He came through that door already shooting.

[00:11:29]>> I'm going to read something to you real quick. Okay.

[00:11:34]Let me know if you have any questions or anything like that.

[00:11:37]>> I know I'm under arrest. I've heard them before.

[00:11:40]>> Right. Right. Right now you're being detained. Okay. Before I talk to you, before I ask you any questions about any of this, I have to read you this. Yes.

[00:11:48]Okay.

[00:11:48]>> I understand.

[00:11:49]>> You have the right to remain silent.

[00:11:51]Anything you say can be used as evidence against you in court. You have the right to have a lawyer present while being questioned. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, a lawyer will be appointed to you for appointed for you without cost before questioning. If you wish to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you will still have the right to stop answering questions at any time.

[00:12:12]Down here is the waiver. It says, "I have read the statement of my right shown above and I understand what my rights are. No promises or threats have been made to me and no pressure of any kind is being used against me." All of that sound?

[00:12:24]>> Yes, sir.

[00:12:24]>> Sound good to you? You understand all that?

[00:12:26]>> Yes, sir.

[00:12:27]>> All right.

[00:12:30]I'm going to initial and sign it right here.

[00:12:37]>> If you want to have a look at that, read it, anything like that.

[00:12:40]>> I understand.

[00:12:41]>> If you want to print your name, sign your name if you understand. And >> just be careful about pressing hard.

[00:12:47]Crap. It is >> right here on this timeline printing and >> the rights are read quickly, almost casually, sandwiched between small talk and a cup of coffee. James signs the waiver without hesitation. What the detective knows and James doesn't is that the moment that pen touches paper, everything that follows belongs to the prosecution.

[00:13:10]>> Telling your side of the story about what happened today, the events that happened.

[00:13:13]>> I'd like to I'd like to hear what happened today.

[00:13:18]I woke up. They was all arguing in the house. Was like, "We've got this girl that's been staying with us."

[00:13:26]>> Yes, sir.

[00:13:28]>> Stay with my son. And she's like the devil.

[00:13:33]I mean, she's just like the devil. You know what I'm saying?

[00:13:36]>> And who is that? The girl.

[00:13:38]>> I don't know what her last name is.

[00:13:40]>> Okay. What's her first name?

[00:13:43]>> Samantha.

[00:13:45]>> Okay.

[00:13:47]and she keeps the house in a complete uproar.

[00:13:52]And I was asking my wife this morning, my ex-wife, if she could evict her to serve a formal eviction because she was driving me crazy, the whole situation.

[00:14:05]And she said she was at her wits end with it too, but they had it handled.

[00:14:10]So I went back in my room and tried to ignore it.

[00:14:17]Still going on. So I jumped in the bath and tried to soak it out, you know.

[00:14:25]And all I could do is hear him yelling and screaming in the other room about it.

[00:14:30]And I got out of my bathtub and I told him, "Look, if you don't get her out of here, you know, it's going to destroy this whole house. Will you just serve her eviction?"

[00:14:44]I said, "If you don't, I got to leave."

[00:14:48]>> No, I forgot.

[00:14:50]>> Go ahead.

[00:14:52]And I don't really know what happened from there. My son said something about you're not going to do anything to nobody. and he started going in an outrage.

[00:15:03]>> Okay.

[00:15:03]>> The investigators ask one open question and then go almost completely silent.

[00:15:08]This is deliberate. The more rope James is given, the more narrative he has to maintain and the more detail he volunteers that can be cross-cheed against evidence he has no idea they already have.

[00:15:19]>> Okay.

[00:15:20]>> And said he was going to hurt me or something. I heard him yelling something from the other room and I know how he is. So, I was already looking for a weapon because I knew he was coming.

[00:15:31]>> But I told James to stay out of it. I would take care of it. And I was, >> you know, in a violent person stay in the house and they could work it out which they were.

[00:15:52]>> James says he armed himself because he knew violence was coming. But Linda, the one person standing between both of them, had already told him to stand down. She had it handled. James picking up a gun wasn't self-preservation. It was a choice made against her explicit instructions.

[00:16:09]>> When I looked out the door, he was coming >> from when he looked out the door. Out the bedroom door.

[00:16:15]>> My bedroom door. Okay.

[00:16:17]>> I seen him coming and his mama was in between him trying to push him away.

[00:16:21]>> Okay.

[00:16:22]>> So, while she was pushing away, I ran and got her gun.

[00:16:27]>> Okay.

[00:16:28]>> We were tustling, >> right?

[00:16:30]>> He knocked the gun out of my hand.

[00:16:33]>> I see Chris come around the front. So, I open the door and I was like, "What the [ __ ] you doing?" You know, um I see he had a firearm in his hand. He said, "This [ __ ] just pulled a gun on me." He said, "I kicked it out of his hand." He said, "I don't know what to do, Sam. Why I hear Miss Lena going off like something happened to her?" And that's his mom. I should never let him go back in there. Should never let him go back in there and he darted in there and I heard all the shots.

[00:16:59]>> What What did Chris do with the gun?

[00:17:02]>> He took the clip out, laid the clip on the on the rail outside. James says the gun was knocked loose in a struggle, but Samantha is describing something James left out entirely. Chris walked out of that house, removed the magazine, and set it down. That is not the behavior of someone preparing to kill his stepfather. That is someone trying to deescalate. James never mentioned the unloaded gun.

[00:17:28]>> The gun went across the room. He went running for the gun. I knew what was going to happen next. Okay.

[00:17:35]>> So, I ran for another gun.

[00:17:38]gun. I had my gun.

[00:17:42]I ran for my gun because I knew he had a gun at that point cuz he was running for the gun. So, I ran the other way. Okay.

[00:17:50]>> When I come back, she was trying to get him to stop again.

[00:17:55]He had the gun over his shoulder, pointed it right at my face.

[00:18:00]>> Then he heard his mom yelling for help.

[00:18:03]He thought Chris, he thought James was hurting his mom, so he took off out of the camper and I shouldn't have let him go, but I didn't know what was going on.

[00:18:10]And then I just heard massive bullets everywhere.

[00:18:15]Chris didn't shoot at him.

[00:18:17]>> James describes Chris as a man coming back for violence. Samantha watched him leave the camper. She says he went back in because he heard his mother screaming, not because he was looking for a fight. And the detail James never mentions. Chris never fired, not once.

[00:18:34]>> And said, "You ain't gonna point no gun at me ever again." And that's when I shot him. Okay. And when I shot him, I seen him moving.

[00:18:44]At least I think I did.

[00:18:47]Best as I can remember. I thought I saw him move again. So, I unloaded the gun.

[00:18:54]>> James had two guns. He unloaded that one on Chris and he grabbed another one and come after me.

[00:19:00]>> James describes continuing to fire because he thought Chris was still moving. But Samantha is watching from outside and she's clear. The moment Chris went down, James grabbed his second weapon and turned. The second shooting wasn't a continuation of fear.

[00:19:15]It was a deliberate decision.

[00:19:17]>> And I opened up the door to see what was going on. and his mama was pushing him back and he had her gun pointing it right at my face and I went to duck and I seen him push her out of the way and that's when I [ __ ] fired shot him.

[00:19:37]>> James had a gun I guess in his hand and when they first started fighting apparently Chris hit his hand and the gun fell out of the sand and went over to the TV. Okay. And then James or Chris picks the gun up and goes outside with it.

[00:19:55]>> James says the first gun went flying and Chris grabbed it and immediately turn it on him. Linda says something different.

[00:20:02]Chris picked it up and walked out the front door. He left the house. The threat James describes was over the moment Chris stepped outside. What happened next was James going to get another gun and waiting?

[00:20:13]>> I wasn't trying to shoot anybody, but I thought I shot her, too. I seen her go down. I was like, "Oh, fuck." You know, as I was looking for Linda. I'm calling out for Linda. I'm running around. Where you at, Linda? You know, that's all I remember.

[00:20:28]He went to the back door and tell you he was going to kill her or he was going after her. I ran out. I think I must have ran out a second before him or right after him. I think it was after he went out cuz he started firing and I yelled to her, "Run, Samantha. He's going to shoot and kill you." And then I turned around, not knowing what he would do then, and ran through the house across to my neighbors across the road because then I was scared he might come after me.

[00:20:56]>> James says he went looking for Linda out of concern. Linda says she ran from the house because she believed he was going to kill her, too. These are not two ways of describing the same moment. One of them is a man who chased a woman with a gun. The other is James' version.

[00:21:11]>> He told me to just leave and go back home. So that's what I did. And when I saw y'all, I was trying to get back home, man.

[00:21:17]>> No, no, no.

[00:21:18]>> I was trying to escape. I was trying to get there where y'all could take me down soft, you know.

[00:21:25]>> Chris's stepdad shot and killed him.

[00:21:28]Came after me and shot up the camper and almost hit me and Lucy.

[00:21:35]>> He tried to kill me just about I don't know was it hour and a half ago and then he came after me. He shot the camper up.

[00:21:44]so bad I couldn't get out. I had to crawl through the back.

[00:21:47]>> James has spent the last few minutes building the image of a remorseful man driving to a church, turning himself in, asking for prayer. But Samantha was still trapped inside a bullet riddled camper. While he was doing all of that, she had to crawl out through the back.

[00:22:02]The man praying at the church and the man who locked her in with gunfire are the same man. And he left her there.

[00:22:07]>> Darnest woman I know at works. And >> I'm so sorry. I feel like I failed her.

[00:22:12]>> And she's doing that for y'all. I know you have some income, but also >> feel like I failed her as a husband.

[00:22:17]>> But you know what? You know, in my heart of hearts and talking to her for an hour, >> she didn't never say, "Why did he do that? You know, I hate him. I don't love him or anything like that." She agreed that, you know, >> she was wrestling with herself.

[00:22:33]>> You know, that that you need both. We're scared of him.

[00:22:36]>> Sure.

[00:22:37]>> He's violent. He's >> I'm not trying to make him a bad person.

[00:22:40]He's a good soul down there somewhere.

[00:22:42]It is what it is.

[00:22:44]>> Somewhere down there, that boy was a good soul, but I couldn't find it in him.

[00:22:48]>> But one thing, Izzy, while while we're thinking, because you know, not only do we talk to you and everybody else, I'm sure you watch police shows before or whatever. I >> know I'm going to prison. I >> I wish. No, not necessarily. I'm not say that's not my determination.

[00:23:04]>> I know I'm sick in the head. I know I deserve what I get. But things aren't as easy as you see on TV because we take what you tell us, what she tells us, the people that were there, all right, and then we try to align it with the evidence that we have there at the scene. Okay?

[00:23:20]>> I didn't kill him with malice.

[00:23:22]>> All right?

[00:23:22]>> I didn't kill him because I wanted to kill him.

[00:23:25]>> Let Let me >> I killed him because I was scared I was going to be killed myself.

[00:23:28]>> Okay? And and I take that as what you say. I'm not saying that's not true. I'm not here to say that's not true or untrue. Only thing I will refute on is if evidence says different. Okay. Now, what I want to ask you, would you rather me call you Izzy? You like Izzy better?

[00:23:47]>> Yes.

[00:23:48]>> Izzy, what what I'd like to ask you though, and and after the incident happened with Chris.

[00:23:56]All right. Then what' you do?

[00:24:00]>> Because I know what you did.

[00:24:01]>> I think I tried to kill that girl.

[00:24:03]>> Yes, sir.

[00:24:05]But I did. I was out of my mind. I was just like I was on autopilot. I couldn't stop myself. I'm being honest.

[00:24:14]>> You You go out the back door.

[00:24:16]>> I saw him. I looked in his face and I saw him dead and I immediately held her responsible for it >> because of her.

[00:24:25]>> Yeah.

[00:24:26]>> I saw you march outside.

[00:24:28]>> I think I was going to kill her.

[00:24:29]>> And you started shooting.

[00:24:32]>> I think so. Yeah.

[00:24:34]porch, steps, yard. I don't know.

[00:24:38]>> The detective already knows about the shooting outside. The cameras captured it, but he asks James to tell him anyway. Framed his curiosity, not accusation. James confesses to attempted murder, believing he's filling in a gap.

[00:24:52]He's actually closing a trap.

[00:24:54]>> Did you empty the pistol?

[00:24:56]>> Uh, probably did. Yeah.

[00:24:58]>> Okay.

[00:24:59]>> I think I was trying to kill her. I don't know. I was out of my mind. and I was holding responsible for it. That's where my guilt lies.

[00:25:06]>> Okay.

[00:25:07]>> Is after the fact.

[00:25:08]>> Okay.

[00:25:08]>> And I'll admit that totally. I'm guilty of that.

[00:25:11]>> Did you ever walk up on the trailer and shoot or you shot from afar or you know a distance a little bit? Do you recall at all?

[00:25:19]>> Because the camera show us.

[00:25:22]>> You don't you don't know.

[00:25:23]>> I was out of my mind, sir.

[00:25:24]>> Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. I was mad because I'd had to kill my son and I knew who was responsible for making all that happen. And I think I went to the dark side on that. And where did you get the gun at that you shot at her with?

[00:25:42]>> That's my gun. I bought it a long time ago off the street.

[00:25:47]>> You sure?

[00:25:48]>> Yeah, I think so.

[00:25:51]>> Now >> I'm not sure about >> No, not not according to Linda. Now, Linda says, "Y'all bought those guns a couple years ago at Mike's gun shop.

[00:25:59]>> Guns." I didn't I can't buy a gun legally, >> right? Well, is there more than two pistol firearms? Not Not pellet guns or airsoft. Is there more than two firearms in the house?

[00:26:13]>> There's her guns.

[00:26:14]>> Okay.

[00:26:15]>> She has two guns.

[00:26:17]>> And that's what you used was her two guns.

[00:26:20]No, I have one gun of my own.

[00:26:22]>> And that was a what?

[00:26:29]>> I think it's that sky one.

[00:26:31]>> And what caliber is that?

[00:26:33]>> 9 mm.

[00:26:34]>> 9 mm.

[00:26:36]>> Yeah. I'm guilty of trying to hurt her.

[00:26:38]>> Okay.

[00:26:39]>> I'm just going to go ahead and say it up front. I'm not ashamed of it cuz >> I was out of my mind. I don't know what I was thinking.

[00:26:46]>> Well, well, fair enough. Fair enough.

[00:26:48]But >> but I know that I did it. How do how do we explain? All right.

[00:26:53]>> I'm telling you the truth.

[00:26:54]>> No, no, no. I'm not saying you're not.

[00:26:56]Just >> I just don't know all the facts because I was out of my mind.

[00:26:59]>> And and I'm not doubting what you're saying, but just when I ask you a question, it may spark a little memories. Okay.

[00:27:06]>> I'll try to work with you.

[00:27:07]>> Yeah. And I'm not trying to be a butthole or anything. I'm just >> I'm trying to kill that woman.

[00:27:11]>> I have to put the story together. guilty of trying to kill that woman because I was out of my mind and I wasn't thinking proper and I was holding her responsible for the death of my son at that moment.

[00:27:23]>> The investigators start methodically listing every firearm in the house. This isn't recordeping. It's a stress test.

[00:27:30]Each time James revises the gun count, he's either lying or demonstrating the disorganized mental state they'll use to challenge his credibility on every other detail.

[00:27:40]>> I was sketchy as [ __ ] I'm telling you truth. I don't know what happened, >> but I know that I had the two guns. I never touched the silver gun. I bought that to get that out of the hands of my son.

[00:27:51]>> Okay. So, you had you had two guns. The >> Cuz he's not supposed to have a gun and he carries a gun all the time, even though he's not supposed to.

[00:27:59]>> Yeah, that's not right.

[00:28:00]>> And I've been trying to get him to stop that [ __ ] the the very first gun that you walked out with and y'all started arguing with that he slapped out of your hand.

[00:28:11]>> If you can tell me what he was shot with, then I would know cuz I don't know. I just grabbed whatever I saw.

[00:28:18]When I seen him with a gun, I ran and grabbed whatever >> right. But what I'm saying, when you first confronted him, not when you shot him, but when you first confronted him, he didn't have a gun then. Okay. You just you grabbed the gun. All right. And y'all tussled and he slapped it out of your hand.

[00:28:36]>> Right. But he was coming at me by Right.

[00:28:40]And that's fine. I'm just trying to figure out what gun that was. That's odd.

[00:28:44]>> To be a God honest sir, I don't know. I just when I seen him coming, >> when I seen him coming, >> I backed back into my room. I lifted up my mattress and I grabbed whichever gun I saw. And I don't remember which one.

[00:28:58]>> That's the first time.

[00:28:59]>> Yes, sir.

[00:29:00]>> Okay. when he slapped it out and I came in there and I pointed it at him and I said, "Son, this ain't happening today.

[00:29:07]Calm the [ __ ] down." Okay, that's what I told him. And he pushed his way past his mother and he hit my arm, >> right?

[00:29:18]>> And the gun somehow, I don't know how he hit me. If he hit me sideways and forward, I know he hit my arm.

[00:29:25]>> Okay.

[00:29:26]>> The gun I seen the gun go this way. Is this in the living room?

[00:29:31]>> Yeah.

[00:29:31]>> Okay.

[00:29:31]>> I think the gun went like over his head even. I don't know.

[00:29:35]>> Okay.

[00:29:35]>> I just know when he hit my hand, the gun came out of my hand.

[00:29:38]>> Okay. But you don't remember what gun that was, but it came from your room.

[00:29:43]>> Yes, sir.

[00:29:44]>> And I don't know where it also went when he knocked it out of my hand.

[00:29:49]>> I only know that he stopped tustling with me and started going for the gun.

[00:29:54]And then you >> So I was scared that if he got that gun, I was surely dead.

[00:29:59]>> Okay. And so then you retreat back to your room >> and got a second gun.

[00:30:04]>> Okay.

[00:30:05]>> Now when I turned back around, I could hear him in there yelling with his mama.

[00:30:09]>> Mhm.

[00:30:09]>> And he's saying he's never pointing that gun at me again.

[00:30:13]>> James can't keep track of which gun he grabbed first, which gun Chris had, or which gun ended up where. The detectives don't challenge a single inconsistency.

[00:30:22]They're not correcting him. They're collecting him. Every version he offers is being logged.

[00:30:27]>> I I I know that they all came from under my mattress.

[00:30:32]That's where they all originated from except for the guns that she owned. You know, one of the guns that I had was her gun. But I've been cleaning those guys.

[00:30:41]I just got a kid in from Walmart no.com and I, you know, I've been servicing those guns and I just never gave it back to her. But they're her guns. And she sold me the gun at one time, but she told me that she was not right for me to have a gun. That I was not supposed to have one because I was on marijuana. And now that the laws changed that you can't have a gun on on marijuana.

[00:31:05]>> I'm not worried about that.

[00:31:06]>> So, she's been trying to get the gun back from me in conversation. But I feel threatened around there, dude, all the time. I mean, with him there always doing this crazy [ __ ] He's in a gang.

[00:31:17]He's in a goddamn mafia. I don't know what the [ __ ] he's into, but they're always calling our house saying, "It's Chris there. We're going to kill you."

[00:31:24][ __ ] I mean, I get all kinds of goddamn threats, you know? I'm constantly saying, "When are you pissed off now, Chris? I'm getting death threats again." You know, I'm constantly getting goddamn death threats, man. I'm [ __ ] scared. And I [ __ ] I lost it.

[00:31:40]I I killed my son. Okay. I killed it out of fear. I killed it out of protecting my own self.

[00:31:49]That's all I can say, dude. I mean, I'm telling the truth. He had the gun. I seen the inside of the barrel of that gun. I thought one more second I'm going to be dead.

[00:31:58]>> Did you kill him out of anger?

[00:32:00]>> No, I killed him out of pity.

[00:32:02]>> Out of pity? Can you explain that to me?

[00:32:04]>> That [ __ ] was going to kill somebody eventually, and I thought it was fixing to be me.

[00:32:10]And I thought, you know, if I got to kill this some [ __ ] it's better than that's by my hand. I had one second to think about that.

[00:32:18]So basically, you did the world a favor.

[00:32:20]>> Goddamn right I did. I can guarantee you that. If you don't believe it, ask her.

[00:32:25]I did the [ __ ] world a favor when I killed that boy. He was going to kill somebody. He's going on rampage. I'm going to tell you the God's damn truth.

[00:32:31]And I'm telling you, you can put a stack of Bibles here and I'll tell you, he's planning a rampage. Been telling me about it for a long time. Scaring the [ __ ] out of me with that [ __ ] And I'm trying to say, son, killing everybody ain't the reason. You know it ain't gonna make nothing better for you, but he's been promising he was gonna kill all you [ __ ] forever.

[00:32:53]>> Watch what happens when James starts saying he did the world a favor. The investigators don't push back. They nod.

[00:32:59]They agree because every word James uses to justify the killing is actively dismantling his own self-defense claim and they need him to keep going.

[00:33:08]>> I'm like, "No, I don't do any drugs."

[00:33:10]You know, when they're like, "Yeah, right." You know, everybody's just on your dick about that, you know, like, "Yeah, you're doing it." You know, but I know I'm not. And like I said, I wish you'd blood test me right now. I request it because I want you to know I am not on no drugs.

[00:33:24]>> I didn't do this because of drugs. I did this because of fear.

[00:33:27]>> And the last time you took your medication, do you recall?

[00:33:31]>> Be honest with you now.

[00:33:34]>> I hate medication.

[00:33:35]>> Month, couple weeks, days?

[00:33:39]>> Long time.

[00:33:41]She thinks I've been taking them.

[00:33:43]>> Are they in your room? So the the script the script would be old and they'll be full.

[00:33:48]>> Yeah. I'm sorry.

[00:33:50]>> No, don't be.

[00:33:51]>> I should have been taking my meds, man.

[00:33:53]But the goddamn make me sick. I hate taking meds. I feel sick all the time, you know, and I just been staying to myself to keep this kind of [ __ ] from happening.

[00:34:06]I haven't, she'll tell you I haven't hardly left my house in three years other than to get my medications, go to the doctor, you know, like that. I don't go for no fun. I don't go for no socializing, you know. I stay reclused in my room, but the world just keeps coming at me, man. You know, I feel like I'm a paranoid schizophrenic. So, I'm always, you know, I'm [ __ ] the world's trying to get my goddamn ass, you know, and as you can see, they are.

[00:34:42]And man, it's all I can say.

[00:34:46]>> All right. Well, let's walk out here and talk for a minute. You need anything?

[00:34:49]>> I wish I could give you more clues. I probably reloaded. I probably did all that what you just said, but I have no [ __ ] clue how I did it. I wasn't in my right mind. I don't know which gun I picked up. I don't know which I shot him with. I can only tell you what I think happened.

[00:35:06]>> And I'm being honest.

[00:35:07]>> And I believe you that there's there's bits and pieces. You know, it's a traumatic incident for everybody.

[00:35:13]>> Very traumatic for me.

[00:35:14]>> So, >> I just killed my son, sir.

[00:35:17]>> So, >> and I can't even feel bad about it because he's such a criminal.

[00:35:22]That's what's got me [ __ ] up more than shooting him. I feel like I did y'all a [ __ ] favor cuz he was going to rampage somebody and his mama not to ask her.

[00:35:32]>> Well, what what I want you to focus on while we're out there talking is possibly trying to remember where you got that second gun from. Where you p where you picked >> I tell you where the guns all came from.

[00:35:43]>> James thinks admitting he stopped taking his medication helps him. He's building toward an insanity defense, but the detective lets him finish because off his meds, awake for days, and still capable of retrieving a gun, reloading a magazine, and pursuing a second target tells a very different story.

[00:36:00]>> From under my mattress >> originally. Okay. But after you shot Chris, I want to know where >> if you reloaded or if you picked up a gun, if you picked up a gun out back, if you >> want to hypnotize me and have it rebuild.

[00:36:14]>> I wish it worked that way >> because I really I was out of my [ __ ] gourd. I may have picked a gun up. I may have went in there and got another gun.

[00:36:23]I don't know. I'm being honest with you.

[00:36:25]I really don't know. Now, if you want to give me the death penalty, I'll take it right now >> because I don't I'm not setting good with having killed my son.

[00:36:35]And I'm not sitting good with the fact that I might have hurt somebody else >> cuz I don't even know why I did that.

[00:36:41]That's definitely mentality right there.

[00:36:43]That was mental. I don't know where I was doing, what I was going with that, but I did it and I'm guilty of it. Well, I'm not I'm not the one that >> and I'm claiming insanity on that cuz I don't remember. But I think as mad as I've been at that [ __ ] I probably have killed her if I had got close to her.

[00:36:59]That's the best I can say.

[00:37:00]>> That's that's not up for me to determine whether >> and I ain't got no remorse towards her.

[00:37:04]I don't even right now I don't feel nothing towards that girl. So I don't know why I did that to be honest with you.

[00:37:11]>> You don't you don't feel anything towards her as far as hate or towards liking her? Just not >> at all. That's what's got me [ __ ] up.

[00:37:18]Why did I do that? It's got to be my mental state because I did not have no I felt like when I looked at the dead body that she was responsible of it.

[00:37:31]And maybe that's what caused me to do the second thing. But I don't remember the second thing. I only remember >> the second thing being shooting into the trailer.

[00:37:39]>> Yeah. I don't remember shooting into the trailer till I saw myself shooting into the trailer. I saw the metal coming at me and I What the [ __ ] >> Did you empty the magazine into the trailer also like you did into Chris?

[00:37:52]>> I think so.

[00:37:54]>> Okay. Okay.

[00:37:55]>> But I'm telling you, I woke up at that minute and then I got scared and I was like, "Oh [ __ ] I don't know what to do now." So, I went to go look for Linda to try to see if she could give me some tell me what to do with myself, you know? And I couldn't find her. I guess she's hiding cuz she's scared.

[00:38:14]I would have been scared, too. And I feel so bad about that. But I didn't know what else to do. So, I think I grabbed those clips.

[00:38:24]I think I reloaded the gun. I think I was going to shoot myself with that gun.

[00:38:29]>> James says he reloaded a gun to kill himself. But 40 caliber casings are spread across the yard outside. The detective doesn't confront him with this directly. He just asks James to keep thinking about where that gun came from, knowing the answer will eventually collapse the suicide story entirely.

[00:38:48]>> And I told myself, "No, that's the coward's way out. Whatever comes from this, I have to face it."

[00:38:54]So I said, "But I'm going to go talk to Jesus first about it." So I rode up to the church.

[00:39:01]I got out of the church. They wouldn't let me have prayer. Well, you you you know you don't have to have a priest there to have prayer, right?

[00:39:10]>> I was out of my mind looking for a priest. I mean, >> have have you have you I mean, have you sat in here and had prayer? Have you have you closed your eyes and bowed your head >> and spoke to the Lord?

[00:39:20]>> Yes, sir, I have.

[00:39:21]>> Okay.

[00:39:22]>> I'm a godly man. I'm a Christian man. I saw the Lord. I know he's real. When I was struck in hell with this lightning bolt, I saw the devil. I saw him. I know he's real. And I've been struggling with that ever since. I this world is so weird to me now because I saw the other world and I ain't in right sense with myself or with people or anything and I've been screaming for help. I've took myself to the counselors myself.

[00:39:51]>> Well, you know, >> and they only tell me that I can't be fixed cuz I have a mental problem due to damage. Not not because I'm crazy. It's because I've been hit in the head is what they said.

[00:40:03]then you can't fix that. And the man told me, "You're wasting your money coming here." And I was struggling for money. So I said, "If you if I don't have to come and you say I'm okay, I'm not coming back."

[00:40:18]And I said, "Will you document that?"

[00:40:21]And he said, "Yes." And I never see him again.

[00:40:24]And I never went back to treatment, but I've been keeping on the meds. I just haven't been taking them because they make me so sick. And they make me feel like people are coming after me.

[00:40:35]>> They make you even more paranoid.

[00:40:37]>> Yes.

[00:40:39]>> All right. Well, let me go out here and talk real quick.

[00:40:41]>> I was seeing nightmares and spiders and snakes and things coming at me, you know, from the drugs.

[00:40:49]And I was telling her, I was like, I can't keep taking this [ __ ] you know?

[00:40:53]And she said, you got to take it or you'll be back in jail.

[00:40:58]And I just didn't. And I wish I had it now, but >> all right, let me go out here, James.

[00:41:03]Let me talk to them. See what all they're coming up.

[00:41:05]>> I didn't want to kill my son. I didn't want to kill him. I love that boy. But god damn it. If I didn't took him out, somebody would have suffered. Somebody would have died.

[00:41:17]>> Who?

[00:41:18]>> Everyone.

[00:41:20]Ask his mother. He threatens to kill everyone all the time.

[00:41:24]>> Well, would you have died today if you didn't shoot him?

[00:41:26]>> Damn damn right I would have.

[00:41:27]>> The detective pivots to religion. shared faith, no judgment, the afterlife. This is one of the most powerful psychological moves in the interrogation manual. It drops a subject's defenses completely. James starts revealing things he's been circling for hours because he no longer feels like he's talking to a detective.

[00:41:54]and tell her she can do whatever she has to do with my money until they take it away from me.

[00:41:59]>> Pay bills, whatever she got to do.

[00:42:02]>> I'm considering my life to be a standstill. So, whatever she has to do with my money, that's okay with me.

[00:42:08]>> I I want to give her power of attorney over all my affairs.

[00:42:11]>> All right. Yeah. Uh you'll have to uh you'll have to talk to your lawyer about that. Obviously, that's not something I can do, but if you'll discuss it with your lawyer, >> is there any way I can use my one phone call to talk to her?

[00:42:25]>> I can't tell you that you can't. Um, it uh >> is there any way I could just talk with her for a minute?

[00:42:32]>> I asked her if she wanted to talk to you right now and she said she doesn't think she can. Okay.

[00:42:39]>> Can you tell her I'm very sorry for all this?

[00:42:42]>> I will.

[00:42:43]>> I'm so sorry.

[00:42:44]>> I will. And I know that's no sorry, but >> they'll eat your chips, James.

[00:42:51]>> They'll have something across the street you can have. We might have a sandwich or something like that. Okay.

[00:42:56]>> This is sad.

[00:42:58]>> It is sad. It It It's a tough situation, you know. So, but we're going to get you out of here so that we can get to work and get some of this done. Okay.

[00:43:08]>> You know, his dad's going to try have me killed and jailed, don't you?

[00:43:11]>> I'll talk to him across the street about that. He's one bad [ __ ] too.

[00:43:15]>> What's his dad's name?

[00:43:20]>> You had asked me. I could have told you.

[00:43:22]Um, hold on.

[00:43:23]>> I'll ask Linda.

[00:43:25]>> Greg.

[00:43:25]>> Greg.

[00:43:26]>> Okay.

[00:43:27]>> She may not like it that I told you that, but >> it is what it is.

[00:43:31]>> Definitely a serious situation with him.

[00:43:33]So, >> he's not going to like the fact that I killed his boy, and I'm going to be forever looking over my shoulder for it.

[00:43:42]All right. Bye.

[00:43:48]>> Not that I'm trying to protect myself.

[00:43:50]>> Where's he from? Where's Greg from?

[00:43:53]I >> think he lives in Maryland.

[00:43:55]>> Maryland.

[00:43:57]>> But he's got long fingers.

[00:44:02]>> Turn around.

[00:44:04]>> I'm sorry this is happening.

[00:44:08]I feel like >> throughout this entire interview, James has insisted he acted in pure instinct, that it all happened too fast to think, but then he says it himself. I had one second to think. One second of conscious decision-making. For self-defense, the shooting needed to be reflexive. The detective never had to prove it wasn't.

[00:44:27]James just did. Samantha, six statements that expose James.

[00:44:32]James Isaiah Blackman Jr. was convicted of seconddegree murder for the killing of Christopher Ran and first-degree attempted murder for shooting at Samantha Noble. After just two hours of deliberation, the jury rejected his self-defense claim entirely. On September 8th, 2022, Judge John Simon sentenced Blackman to two consecutive life sentences. Life with a mandatory minimum of 25 years for the murder and an additional life sentence with a mandatory minimum of 20 years for the attempted murder. He will never leave prison.