It began with a fist bump. It ended in gunfire and a man’s death. How the jury ruled.
The jury found a 28-year-old man Guilty of murder nearly three years after deadly shooting outside of another man Beautiful Glade Sunday.
On Oct. 10, jurors found Tony P. Huggins of Belle Glade guilty of first-degree murder with a firearm in the Oct. 22, 2022, death of 31-year-old Johnathan Jones. They also found Huggins guilty of grand theft auto.
State prosecutors announced they would drop the third charge against Huggins, of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Huggins awaits sentencing while Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe prepares the case for a status hearing on Oct. 16. Prosecutors told the court they will not seek the death penalty, meaning Huggins faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigators, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was taken into custody days after the fatal shooting after he claimed to have shot Jones after encountering him at Bobby’s Market on Southwest Sixth Street, just north of Boulevard.
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Surveillance cameras captured footage of Huggins, then 25, entering and exiting the store moments before the shooting. When he entered the store, cameras caught him hiding an item under his arm; Investigators later said it was a gun.
Investigators said Huggins passed Jones leaving the market and the two men shared a fist bump before leaving. Sheriff’s deputies said there was no sign of any trouble between them.
Investigators said Jones was standing near the open trunk of a Chevrolet SUV with a group of men a short time later when Huggins approached while driving a stolen Lexus SUV. The sheriff’s office said Huggins rolled down the front passenger window, opened fire and then sped away from the scene.
Paramedics took Jones to Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade, where they took him by helicopter to St. Louis in West Palm Beach. They sent him to St. Mary’s Medical Center, where he died.
Court records show that before his death, Jones told his girlfriend that “AJ” was the person who shot him.
Julius Whigham II is the criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article was first published in the Palm Beach Post: Fists to gunfire: Jurors decide man’s fate in fatal shooting
