Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tianta Latasha Stevens, 36, has been sentenced to three years in prison after entering a plea of nolo contendere to making a false report to law enforcement regarding a homicide.

At about 8:44 p.m. on December 7, 2023, multiple calls were received about gunshots heard at The Ridge Apartments (512 SW 34th Street). Responding Gainesville Police Department officers found two gunshot victims, one of whom later died.

A few minutes before the shooting, a 911 call was received from Stevens, who said she had been “jumped” and attacked and gave the address of the apartment where the shooting occurred. During the call, Stevens told the call taker that she went to the apartment to see if her friend was there and was attacked by several people who took her phone.

During the call, someone else can be heard asking Stevens a question, and she appears to give them directions. When the call taker tried to get more information, Stevens ignored her for a moment while she spoke to someone else: “That one right there… that one, right there underneath the stairs.” Her arrest report notes that the apartment where the victims were shot was located underneath the stairs. Several seconds after that exchange, gunshots can be heard in the 911 call recording, and Stevens can be heard screaming.

After the shooting, officers canvassed the area and found a doorbell camera near Stevens’ apartment. At 8:48 p.m., Stevens can be seen walking upstairs to her apartment at Mirabella Apartments, next to The Ridge. Stevens can be heard “frantically crying” on the video, and the sound becomes muffled as her apartment door closes. At 8:50 p.m., Stevens can be seen leaving her apartment again and heading toward the parking lot.

The next day, Stevens voluntarily went to GPD Headquarters for an interview; she was not in custody during the interview. She reportedly said she called 911 to report being jumped but denied being in the area of the homicide at the time of the shooting, which was contradicted by the sound of gunshots in the recording of her 911 call. She also reportedly denied going back to her apartment after the homicide, which was contradicted by the doorbell camera video.

Stevens was arrested on December 10, 2023; she had a juvenile conviction from 2002 but no adult criminal convictions, and she was released on her own recognizance. A formal charge of making a false report to law enforcement regarding a capital felony was filed in April 2024.

On December 2, 2024, Stevens entered an open plea of nolo contendere to the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in state prison, and on January 21, Judge William Davis sentenced her to three years in state prison, followed by a year of probation.