A young Florida woman who shot and killed her friend in a botched robbery will spend decades behind bars.
7th Judicial Circuit Judge Randell Rowe III handed a 40-year term in prison to Fredryonna Grimes, 21, for the shooting death of Jarius Cook, 21. Grimes pleaded no contest to Principal to First-Degree Murder and Principal to Robbery with a Firearm.
On March 19, 2020, deputies responded to reports of a vehicle on fire near DeLand. At the scene, they found Cook’s body in the driver seat engulfed in flames. After the Volusia Fire Department put out the fire, an autopsy revealed the victim had been shot twice in the head and neck, according to the Office of the State Attorney.
Two months later, authorities caught a break after a witness who had been an occupant of Cook’s car came forward and told investigators he saw Grimes and two other co-defendants, Cameron Lane, 21, and Zachariah U. Sanders, 26, fatally shoot the victim before searching the trunk of his car. Authorities found his testimony credible in corroboration with information not shared with the public.
“They were friends, and Jarius trusted everybody... thought everybody was his friend,” said the victim’s aunt, Vicki Cook Heath, reported FOX 35.
At the time of the killing, both Grimes and Lane were juveniles being investigated under “Operation Young Guns.” An initiative involved with several law enforcement agencies that focuses on juveniles linked to gun violence .” In addition, both defendants were involved in an unrelated shooting in DeLand that led to both defendants being sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted murder charges.
Lane was sentenced to 48 years for Cook’s killing, while Sander’s case remains open.
The judge ordered Grimes and Lane to serve their sentences concurrently with the sentences for the attempted murder charges.
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