A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty Friday morning in the 2019 murder of a Flagler County teenager, the State Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors said Marion Gavins Jr. was sentenced to 45 years in the Florida State Prison. According to prosecutors, 40 of the years were for the first-degree murder charge, and another five years will be served consecutively for an attack of a corrections deputy which occurred while Gavins was in jail awaiting the resolution of the murder case.
RELATED | Palm Coast shaken by shooting death of star student
In April 2019, Gavins was seated in the back of an SUV as Curtis Gray, an 18-year-old senior at Flagler Palm Coast High School who was a member of the track team, approached the vehicle. Gavins said something to Gray and then shot him once, hitting him in the abdomen, according to prosecutors. The State Attorney’s Office said that as Gray collapsed to the ground, Gavins pointed a gun at the driver, and together, they left the scene.
Gray died later that day at the hospital.
Gavins was arrested the following day.