TAMPA — A jury found Jermaine Lavanda Bass guilty of murder and attempted murder Thursday in the shootings of his two young children.

The panel of nine women and three men deliberated close to seven hours Thursday before convicting the Tampa father of the dreadful, albeit inexplicable crime.

The jury also convicted Bass of two counts of aggravated child abuse related to the fatal shooting of 5-year-old Jaylah Bass and the severe wounding of her 8-year-old brother, also named Jermaine but known as “J.J.” Both children were shot in their heads.

Bass, 32, remained stone-faced, blinking rapidly, as a clerk read aloud the jury’s decision.

Bass will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Monday. For the murder conviction, he faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The verdict capped a four-day trial where jurors saw graphic photos and videos of the aftermath of the crime and heard suggestions of family strife, but were offered few answers as to why and how.

It happened late the night of Aug. 29, 2022, in the townhome the Bass family shared on Heritage Club Drive, just north of East Fletcher Avenue, near the University of South Florida.

A neighbor there phoned 911 about 10:30 p.m. and reported hearing gunshots. Shirley Bass, the children’s mother and Bass’ wife, soon approached, took the phone, and through hysterical cries begged for an ambulance.

Deputies arrived to find Jermaine Bass on the home’s first floor, cradling his son. The boy was bleeding profusely from a wound to his temple.

In an upstairs bedroom, the 5-year-old girl lay on a top bunk bed beside a crumpled “Mandalorian” blanket. A mattress and a pillow were soaked in blood. She’d been shot three times in her head.

Investigators would find an empty Glock handgun, built for .380 ammunition, in a dresser drawer in the master bedroom.

Prosecutors emphasized what could be gleaned from physical evidence at the shooting scene, including the trajectory of the bullets as they were fired.

Assistant State Attorney Jessica Reder directed the jury’s attention to photos of the children’s injuries — gruesome wounds that she said reflected an intent to kill.

“That is not an accident,” Reder said. “That is not loading the firearm and it going off. Those are aimed, precise, deliberate shots, shots that require some sort of control over the firearm.”

The defense, though, dismissed much of the prosecution’s arguments as based in theories, not evidence.

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The jury never heard from Bass or his wife. They did hear some testimony about a confrontation on Interstate 275 minutes before the crime.

Shirley Bass had gone out that night to attend a family birthday celebration at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in the West Shore area of Tampa.

Jermaine Bass stayed home, but his cellphone records indicated that he later drove his pickup truck to the steakhouse and followed his wife’s car as she and her niece left for home.

They noticed Bass driving behind them. Both vehicles stopped on the highway. Bass got out, walked to the car, asked if his wife had been drinking, then got back in his truck and drove home.

Shirley Bass followed close behind. It was minutes after her return home that the shooting occurred.

In the weeks thereafter, detectives said they had trouble getting Shirley Bass to cooperate in their investigation. When they scheduled a meeting to interview her son, she refused to let them talk to the boy, according to court testimony. Further efforts to get her to let them talk to the child stalled.

It wasn’t until an investigative subpoena was issued that they were able to speak with the boy. But he only said he could not remember what occurred the night of the shooting.

The jury never heard from him, with attorneys for both sides agreeing that he would say the same.

Forensic tests identified the father’s DNA on the Glock handgun. But his son’s DNA was on it, too, a fact the state suggested was due to DNA transfer, which can happen through indirect contact between objects.

The defense, though, argued there wasn’t enough evidence to reach a conclusion about how the shooting occurred.

“There (are) too many questions,” Assistant Public Defender Carolyn Schlemmer said in closing arguments. “And too many things we do not know beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.”

The state countered by pointing to Bass’ own words that night to the arriving deputies.

“It was an accidental discharge,” Bass told them. “I was trying to take out the magazine and it went off.”

Those words, Assistant State Attorney John Terry told the jury, were a lie mixed with a bit of truth.

“Those words are the strongest and the most compelling piece of evidence in this entire case,” Terry said. “He tells you shot that gun.”