Judge gives life in prison for look-out in Florida gang shooting that killed 3 and injured 20

MIAMI (AP) — The man who served as look-out in a South Florida shooting that left three people dead and 20 others injured was sentenced to life in prison Friday.

A Miami-Dade circuit judge said Davonte Barnes, 24, played an integral role in the 2021 Memorial Day weekend shooting at a music hall before handing down 23 concurrent life sentences, the Miami Herald reported. Barnes was convicted in September of three counts of second-degree murder and 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder.

The shooting followed an escalating dispute between two Opa-locka gangs, officials said. Prosecutors showed jurors how they said members of Barnes’ gang pulled into the parking lot at El Mula Banquet Hall before the end of a show and opened fire with high-powered rifles as patrons were leaving. They said the gunfire came from the occupants of three different vehicles.

Another man had been taken into custody for the shooting, but prosecutors dropped the charges after determining detectives made a mistake during an interrogation and after the man invoked his right to counsel.

Those killed in the shooting were Desmond Owens and Clayton Dillard III, both 26, and Shankquia Lechelle Peterson, 32.