Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Zion Mykell James, 14, has been charged as an adult with armed robbery and four other felonies in connection with an incident that ended in a shooting death at Tiger Bay Apartments on April 19.

At about 11:42 a.m. on April 19, Gainesville Police Department (GPD) Officers responded to Tiger Bay Apartments (484 SE 24th Dr.) and found a male victim deceased inside his vehicle.

Surveillance video from the complex reportedly showed the victim arriving and parking near Building 4. About two minutes later, the vehicle rapidly reversed, swerved, and crashed into the leasing office.

A witness who was in the victim’s vehicle said the victim was on the phone with someone when he arrived at the complex; after he parked, several black juveniles walked up to the driver’s side window, then one of the juveniles snatched a bag of marijuana from the victim’s lap and ran. When the victim began backing out of the parking space, the witness said, another juvenile stuck a gun through the window, then the witness heard a gunshot. The victim drove away quickly and then crashed into the building, and the witness said she noticed at that time that the victim had been shot.

A GPD detective searched the victim’s phone and reportedly found phone calls and text messages, setting up a marijuana sale, to a phone number that was found to be registered to a relative of Zion James.

Officers made contact with James, who denied calling or texting the victim.

A detective obtained a search warrant for James’ phone and reportedly recovered deleted phone calls and text messages between James and the victim. The phone also reportedly showed that James had attempted several CashApp transactions to the victim in the seconds before the victim was shot. The location information on the phone also reportedly placed James at the apartment complex at the time of the shooting.

Another witness reportedly said he had been with James before the shooting, and he believed that James and co-defendant Kemani Narada Hill, 13, intended to rob the victim of marijuana. The witness reportedly said that James used a “Cash App glitch” (pretending to send a payment while the phone is in airplane mode) to pretend to pay the victim, then James allegedly snatched a small bag of marijuana from the victim and ran. The witness said that after James grabbed the marijuana, he saw the victim smile and begin to drive away, but then Hill allegedly pulled out a small gun and shot at the victim. James allegedly gave the marijuana to someone else after the shooting.

James has been charged as an adult with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, tampering with evidence, distributing a controlled substance, and using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

Hill has been apprehended and is currently being held at the Juvenile Detention Center.

James has no criminal history. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bond on the armed robbery charge, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial. She set bail at $325,000 on the other four charges.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.