A 5-year-old Florida girl fell victim to gun violence almost 3 years ago. 5-year-old Kearria Addison was shot in the head in front of her family as bullets flew during a shootout outside a Jacksonville food mart.
On Friday a jury found the final defendant involved guilty of first-degree murder as well as three counts of attempted second-degree murder. 33-year-old Johnathan David Hall will be sentenced to mandatory life in prison, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Store surveillance video showed a car pulling into a parking spot at the food store just after 4 p.m. at Monaco and De Paul drives. Hall and several others quickly jumped out and approached a man and woman as they were walking out of the store, police said at the time.
Hall and his group used an aluminum baseball bat on the two victims, then chased the man and began firing in his direction. Kearria was sleeping in a car with her mother and other children in a nearby parking lot when she was struck. A younger sister received minor injuries from flying debris before the gunmen and others fled.
“This shooting was the result of a dispute between individuals who knew each other and were arguing over $180,” then-Sheriff Mike Williams said. “I want to repeat that — $180. So we lost a child’s life yesterday over $180. We have a family grieving because of $180. And we have a community that’s rocked and outraged over a dispute over $180.”
Witnesses and the surveillance video gave police several leads, followed by 53-year-old Tom Everett Jr.’s arrest a day later, police said. The U.S. Marshals Service and Hendry County Sheriff’s Office arrested Hall and 27-year-old Tierra Nicole Beaufort four days after the shooting in Clewiston.
38-year-old Adrain Cornelius Covington turned himself in a few days later as well. In March 202, 31-year-old Christa Ann Hall also was arrested in the case.
Everett pleaded guilty on March 30, 2021, and will be sentenced on October 17, court files show. Beaufort was charged with aggravated battery, but it was dropped two weeks after her arrest.
Covington did plead guilty on August 15 but was attempting to withdraw those pleas this week as a new defense attorney was appointed, the State Attorney’s Office said.
Christa Hall, who also pleaded guilty in August, is awaiting sentencing.
At the time, it was the second gun battle in two years that saw children caught in the crossfire.
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