FORT MYERS, FL – A Fort Myers man is facing decades behind bars after being convicted of orchestrating a brutal murder-for-hire scheme. Marvin Harris, Jr., aka “Mesh,” (25, Fort Myers) received a 45-year federal prison sentence today for conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire. His accomplice, Latrel Jackson, aka “Kobe,” (26, Chicago, Illinois), is slated to be sentenced June 24, 2024, and faces a mandatory life sentence.
Court records reveal that Harris, Jr. hired Jackson and an unindicted co-conspirator, D.S. (deceased), in November 2019 to travel from the Chicago area to Fort Myers with a single, chilling directive: commit murder. The price? $10,000. The motive stemmed from a simmering feud over a Fort Myers residence used for drug sales, with Harris, Jr. believing individuals connected to the “Bucktown” gang had robbed him. This wasn’t a random act of violence; it was calculated retaliation.
On October 28, 2019, Jackson and D.S. arrived at Southwest Florida International Airport, picked up by Harris, Jr. He immediately provided partial payment and, crucially, the firearms they’d need to carry out the hit. The pair initially holed up in Harris, Jr.’s “trap house” – a residence openly used for drug distribution – before relocating to a motel on Palm Beach Boulevard. For days, they scoured Fort Myers, hunting for members of the Bucktown gang to fulfill the deadly contract.
The break came on November 2, 2019, when Harris, Jr. supplied Jackson and D.S. with a vehicle. They located their target, K.U., standing outside a residence known as a Bucktown hangout. Circling the block, they unleashed a hail of gunfire at close range, a single bullet to the head proving fatal. After the execution, Harris, Jr. completed the payment, leaving Jackson and D.S. with the murder weapons. The pair fled back to Chicago via commercial bus the following day.
Federal agents, working with the Fort Myers Police Department, quickly connected the dots. A search of Jackson’s Chicago-area home on November 21, 2019, turned up two firearms hidden in his attic. Ballistics testing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) definitively linked the weapons to shell casings found at the murder scene and in the vehicle used in the shooting. One of the firearms was confirmed to have fired the bullet that killed K.U. during his autopsy. This wasn’t just a hunch; it was ironclad forensic evidence.
The investigation, a collaborative effort involving the FBI, Fort Myers Police, Joliet (Illinois) Police, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, and ATF, was spearheaded by Assistant United States Attorney Michael V. Leeman. The case is part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, a nationwide initiative aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence. But for K.U., and the streets of Fort Myers, it’s a justice delivered too late, a stark reminder of the brutal consequences of drug-fueled gang warfare.
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Key Facts
- Agency: ATF
- Category: Violent Crime|Weapons|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Press Release
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