Previously on “I Am A Killer,” we saw the story of Gary Black, who was a cold-blooded killer. He was violent in many ways and had a criminal background. In Episode 6 of “I Am A Killer” Season 4, we hear the story of Thomas Schifferns, a.k.a TJ. He shot his best friend, Jimmy McGregor but claims that it was an accident. Let’s find out the real story behind the death of Jimmy.
Spoilers Ahead
What Is The Episode About?
The sixth episode of “I Am A Killer” Season 4 starts with Thomas Schifferns, a.k.a TJ introducing himself. TJ tells the audience that he was raised in California. His parents got separated when he was quite young, and his stepmother was very strict. TJ moved from California to Montana. One day, his stepmother caught him smoking and kicked him out of the house. He had a tough childhood. Growing up, TJ got into petty crimes. He started stealing and was arrested for theft and burglary when he was just 19. In 2004, he went to prison and got released after ten years in 2014. He moved to a small town called Red Lodge, where everyone knew each other. Because of his criminal background, it was hard for TJ to land a job. He was penniless in a small town but soon found a job at a hardware company. TJ also started dating a girl who did not judge him for his criminal past. Her name is Shilo, and according to TJ, he felt good after a long time for not getting judged. He felt loved around her, and they started living together in a house that was given to them by TJ’s boss. TJ’s boss told the audience there were times when TJ could not pay rent, so he was clearly struggling with money.Â
TJ did not have a lot of friends when he was in Red Lodge; he was rather notorious there. Everyone described him as a bad guy. However, he made a friend called Jimmy McGregor. According to TJ, Jimmy McGregor was a gentleman, and wherever he was, Jimmy followed. They had an inseparable bond. Soon, TJ discovered that Jimmy was living in poor conditions. In order to help his friend, TJ offered to let Jimmy stay with him at his place. TJ, Shilo, and Jimmy started living together. According to John Price, one of Jimmy’s best friends, this news was concerning. Jimmy had recently gotten his social security and was going to get some money. Jimmy’s friends were happy because Jimmy was finally settling down with some stable money. However, according to John Price, TJ was far from being Jimmy’s best friend. He said he only used Jimmy for his money. Why he said so also sounded very reasonable. John informed the audience that Jimmy had bought a truck, but the alarming thing was he did not know how to drive. Why would someone who doesn’t know how to drive buy a truck? John said TJ needed a truck to commute, so he must have convinced Jimmy to buy one, and since Jimmy was a sweet guy, he gave in to TJ’s request. Anyway, if the friendship was so strong between Jimmy and TJ, what went south? How did Jimmy die?
Did TJ Deliberately Kill Jimmy?
On February 19th, 2018, Jimmy and TJ went fishing near an area called Bear Tract. It was heavily snowing, but they decided to go anyway. They stopped in one place where they were shooting the trees. Now, according to TJ’s story, Jimmy looked very cool playing with his gun. TJ asked if he could also play a little with the gun, and Jimmy handed the gun over. TJ was twirling the gun around, and the gun went off. That is how Jimmy got shot. But instead of reporting the shooting to the police, TJ decided to hide the body in the snow and flee the scene.
According to TJ, he fled the scene because he was already portrayed as a bad guy by everyone, and nobody would have believed him. However, according to the Sheriff, Josh McQuillan, shooting a gun is not child’s play. His argument was one could not accidentally pull the trigger and hit someone’s head. Besides, if it were an accident, why did TJ not report it to the police? This was an easy case for the attorney. According to him, it was a deliberate homicide. The motive was not clear, but rumors were floating around. Jimmy had kept $8,000 in a safe at TJ’s place, and upon investigation, the safe was open, and some money had been retrieved from TJ. So, for the attorney, it was an open-and-shut case. The attorney also brought a friend of TJ’s to court. Alex Nixon, the lawyer, brought Kristen, who said TJ confessed to killing Jimmy in front of her. She described the whole scenario in court, and after her testimony, TJ was sentenced to life in jail.Â
According to TJ, he did not deliberately kill Jimmy. However, he did get ready to change his plea to avoid a death sentence. However, he still says that it was not his intention to kill his best friend that day, so, no, he did not confess to killing Jimmy intentionally. He stands his ground, saying he accidentally shot Jimmy. However, how can one accidentally shoot their friend and not report it to the police? What was TJ’s intention behind hiding the fact that he had shot his best friend? Who would leave their friend bleeding to death? Nobody.
According to the officials, he murdered Jimmy for money. After the interview ended, in the final moments of the episode, TJ is shown what the Sheriff had said about him earlier, and his only reaction was him saying, “whatever.” He also laughed at the fact that the Sheriff made it look like it was hard to pull the trigger of a gun. According to him, it is pretty easy to shoot, and he and Jimmy used to go shooting all the time. The thing we wanted to hear was the interviewers cross-questioning TJ about the money and what Kristen had said. However, the last episode of “I Am A Killer” Season 4 ends with TJ saying he is sorry about killing his best friend and taking an innocent life.Â