20-year-old shot and killed over package of socks he found on ground, FL cops say

A 20-year-old picked up a package of socks he found in a park, then another man accused him of stealing them and killed him, Florida authorities said.

Jerome Parker, 31, has now been sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said Sept. 2.

Parker’s public defender declined to comment on the case Sept. 4.

Through tears, the father of slain Nasir Delaney-Rowland shared a statement in court that his son was one of a kind.

“To know that you were killed at the same park we all played at when you all were kids,” Aaron Miller said in his statement, which he also posted on Facebook. “Swinging at the playground, playing basketball and spending time swimming at the pool and diving off the diving board within yards of where you would be shot just a few short years later.”

Delaney-Rowland was killed Aug. 9, 2024, when he went to a park in Tampa with a friend, the Tampa Police Department said, according to a motion for pretrial detention.

The friend told police that as they walked through the park, Delaney-Rowland noticed a package of new socks on the ground, and he picked it up, documents say.

As they walked toward a picnic area, Parker rode up to them on his bike and accused Delaney-Rowland of stealing the socks, the witness told investigators.

Parker got off his bike “and aggressively approached the victim while reaching into his waistband area for a pistol,” authorities said. “In response, the victim punched the defendant in the face causing him to fall to the ground.”

Delaney-Rowland then threw the socks on the ground, and Parker picked them up, police said.

The 20-year-old was walking away when Parker got up and went after him again, pulling out his gun and threatening to shoot him, saying he would “teach” him a “lesson,” according to authorities.

Delaney-Rowland told him to put the gun away, but when Parker didn’t, Delaney-Rowland punched him again, then Parker shot him in the back of the head, police said.

Parker fled on a bike, but DNA from the scene linked him to the crime, according to investigators.

Others identified him as a local homeless man who went by the name Sauce, and he was arrested Sept. 19, 2024, according to investigators. He was charged with first-degree murder and convicted of a lesser offense of second-degree murder.

“I’m still a sad dad now but knowing that your killer was found guilty brings a sense of peace to a senseless act,” Miller wrote in his statement. “Obviously it doesn’t change the fact that you are gone but it helps to know that 12 jurors saw that your life was worth more than a dispute over socks.”

Miller said Delaney-Rowland could always make people laugh, and he gave the best hugs.

“Nasir you were such a great son,” his father said. “You were so active, always so happy and you were loud, boy were you loud…”

“Although you were taken from us, the things that can’t ever be taken away is the love and the fun memories we shared,” Miller said. “I own that and I will own those happier times forever.”

This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 10:16 AM with the headline "20-year-old shot and killed over package of socks he found on ground, FL cops say."