Gunman found guilty in 2018 Palmetto shooting. Murder trial for second shooting up next
A Manatee County jury convicted a 36-year-old Ruskin man on multiple charges for shooting a friend turned rival in 2018.
Benjamin Lang was found guilty of aggravated battery with great bodily harm with a firearm and shooting into a vehicle, the State Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. The verdict came after a two-day trial at the Manatee County Judicial Center in downtown Bradenton.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 19, 2023. The mandatory minimum for aggravated battery with great bodily harm with a firearm is 25 years in state prison.
Prosecutors say Lang fired seven shots into a car in 2018, with one of the bullets striking Rasheed Dunlap, a former friend of Lang’s, in the lower back.
Dunlap was treated for his injuries at Manatee Memorial Hospital, according to an arrest report.
Lang and Dunlap grew up together and had been friends until about five years before the shooting when they got into a fight, according to the release. The State Attorney’s Office said the two mostly avoided one another.
Conviction in 2018 Palmetto shooting
But on March 17, 2018, Dunlap told detectives that Lang began following him late at night after he was heading home from a food stand near Groover’s Super Market in Palmetto.
When Dunlap made his way onto 17th Street East, he told detectives he stopped his car in the road to confront Lang.
An argument ensued and Lang pulled out a handgun and shot Dunlap, according to a probable cause affidavit.
A bullet was later removed from Dunlap’s body and seized as evidence.
“While the defendant claimed that the shooting was done in self-defense, the jury was quickly able to determine, based on the evidence gathered during the investigation, that the shooting was not justified,” said Dickey Hough, assistant state attorney and lead prosecutor in the case.
Shooter faces murder trial, records say
Lang is still awaiting judgment in another gun-related case, according to court records.
While out on bond a year after the 2018 shooting, Lang was arrested again on a second-degree murder charge after detectives say he fatally shot 28-year-old Benny Williams IV at a gathering of people playing video games.
On March 4, 2019, at around 10:56 p.m., the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in the 1700 block of 17th Avenue Drive East in Palmetto after a 911 caller reported what they described as a shooting.
When deputies arrived, they found Williams in the front yard with four gunshot wounds. They began CPR until Manatee County EMS arrived to take over, but Williams later died after being transported to a nearby hospital.
About seven men had been gathered in the front yard of the house playing PlayStation 4 when they say they heard several loud shots that sounded like firecrackers. When they looked over, they saw Lang standing over Williams, court records say.
Fearing for their safety, the witnesses fled the scene.
Witnesses later told deputies there had been no fighting or threats before the shooting, investigators say.
According to an affidavit, one witness said he heard Williams ask “Why did you shoot me?”
Deputies couldn’t find Lang at first but later discovered a 2011 Buick LaCrosse registered to Lang’s mother burning less than 10 miles from his home in Ruskin. Lang had previously lived in Palmetto, according to court documents.
He surrendered at the Manatee County Jail almost 24 hours after the shooting.
The video game killing happened just one mile away from where Lang shot Dunlap, prosecutors say.
Lang has a hearing related to the 2019 killing on Feb. 1, 2024, according to court records.
