February 3, 2021
“We had a crazy and deadly series of events that unfolded in North Escambia.”
That is how Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons describes incidents over several days that ended with the shooting death of a Cantonment man on Monday.
Danny Blackmon, Jr., 35, was shot and killed on Lawson Lane Monday afternoon as his 19-year old girlfriend watched in horror.
The girlfriend’s mother is one of two people charged in his death, and her grandmother was also jailed. Dawn Sluder is charged with principal to first degree murder, and her boyfriend, Jonathon Taylor Hobbs of Cantonment, is charged with first degree premeditated murder.
January 22, 2021
Newly-elected Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons asked the Escambia County Commission on Thursday for the funds to purchase body cameras for his deputies, following through on a campaign pledge.
Simmons is requesting the commission allocate $912,727 for the purchase of 268 body cameras, with the money coming from what was CARES Act funds.
“Every day that we do not have body cameras, there’s one thing that could take place that could come up and embarrass the Sheriff’s Office, could embarrass the county,” Simmons said. “I just think that this is that important too important for us to delay it.”