Jury finds man guilty of 2022 mass shooting at FAMU basketball court

A Leon County jury has convicted a man behind a 2022 mass shooting on a Florida A&M University basketball court.

The jury found Chedderick Thomas guilty of one count of first degree murder and four counts of attempted first degree murder after only a couple hours of deliberations Thursday afternoon at the Leon County Courthouse.

Thomas was arrested in December 2022. A week before his arrest, a second suspect, Da'Vhon Young Jr., was arrested on the same charges.

Young testified against Thomas, according to a WCTV reporter in the courtroom. Young told the jury he knew Thomas had a beef with one of the men at the basketball court.

"I didn't think he would shoot him," Young Jr. said, according to a WCTV report. "But I thought he would at least try to fight him."

Thomas did not testify, but the defense attorneys during closing arguments maintained Young's story couldn't be trusted.

Young has not yet gone to trial in the case. A case management hearing is set for July.

Who was the victim killed in the shooting? Travis Huntley's life on the courts

The shooting that took place on the outdoor basketball courts on the campus of Florida A&M University injured three men and a 16-year-old boy, and killed 20-year-old Travis Huntley.

A lifelong Tallahasseean, Huntley was a familiar face on many local basketball courts.

Travis, who was known to friends and family as "TJ," played for the varsity team at Florida A&M University's Developmental Research School (FAMU DRS), a K-12 laboratory school affiliated with the university.

“Even though he might not look like it, he really wanted to make it out of Tallahassee," one of his teammates Caleb Bryant told the Democrat in a November 2022 article.

"He wanted to be great in life. I could tell by the way he pushed everybody and pushed himself. I don’t want anybody to think that he was someone out on the streets. He really wanted to make it out."

Shooting was part of a feud between northside and southside groups

According to court records, Young told investigators that Thomas "was shooting [the man] over some comments made on social media about a deceased person."

"Young stated this shooting had something to do with the feud between northside groups and southside groups," records say.

Over a dozen shots were fired at a crowd of more than 12 people who were either playing basketball or watching the games, according to previous reporting by the Democrat.

An attorney for Thomas told WCTV that Thomas intends to appeal.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Man guilty in 2022 mass shooting at Florida A&M basketball court