Teen gets 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to fatal shooting of another teen

A Palmetto teen pleaded guilty to the October 2016 fatal shooting of another Palmetto teen.

Da’Quan Lavonte Gaskin, 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a firearm on Thursday afternoon in the death of 18-year-old Alexander Anderson.

Gaskin, who was set to stand trial beginning Nov. 13, was facing up to life in prison had he been convicted as charged. Instead, he was sentenced by Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll to the minimum mandatory 25 years in prison the charge requires in a plea bargain negotiated by his defense attorney, Liane McCurry, and Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O’Donnell.

Just before midnight on Oct. 2, 2016, deputies were called to the 2000 block of First Avenue in Palmetto after a 911 caller reported seeing a man in the road. When deputies arrived, they found Anderson dead from a gunshot wound.

The Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit took over the investigation, developing Gaskin as a suspect.

The victim’s family had told lead detective Jeffrey Bliss that Anderson had left home with Gaskin and another teen shortly before he was found dead.

Gaskin, who was a student at Palmetto High School at the time, was interviewed at school on Oct. 4 and claimed that he and the other teen had gone to get Gaskin and that the three had smoked marijuana together, but that Anderson had then left alone.

It was the third teen who would reveal how the victim died.

The teen told Bliss and Assistant State Attorney Art Brown that they had gone to Anderson’s house to pick him up, but that as they were walking back to Gaskin’s house together he saw him pull out a handgun and pointed it at the back of the victim’s head.

The teen ran off in fear, but as he did he recalled hearing a single gunshot. But Gaskin caught up to him, “I’m glad I got that over with.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2017 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Teen gets 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to fatal shooting of another teen."