15-year-old appears in court after Tallahassee mass shooting arrest

A YouTube video posted Oct. 26 by WCJB TV20 News, titled "Teen appears in court after mass shooting arrest in Tallahassee #famu #tallahassee," states that a 15-year-old is behind bars in connection with a weekend shooting on Perry Street that left several injured, according to the Tallahassee Police Department.

Anthony Rivers III was arrested Sunday, Oct. 25. He faces 11 counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a delinquent, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The shooting erupted shortly before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24 at Perry and Manatee streets near Bragg Memorial Stadium, after Florida A&M University’s homecoming game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Eleven people were shot. One more person was injured while fleeing, for a total of at least 12 hurt.

Six of the injured were minors. The youngest victim was 11 years old. A grandmother of one victim was also hurt while running from the scene, police said. Six victims remained hospitalized, one in critical condition, the Democrat reported. WCTV said five had been released by Sunday evening. Half the victims were male and half female, according to the Democrat.

TPD Chief Lawrence Revell spoke at a hastily arranged Oct. 26 press conference announcing the arrest. “Our investigation indicates that a physical altercation occurred before shots were fired,” Revell said. “At this stage of the investigation, none of the victims appear to have been the intended targets.” Detectives believe the incident stemmed from a dispute between people who knew one another, the Democrat reported. “What should have been a weekend of celebration in our community instead became a night of fear and violence for the victims and their families,” Revell said. He described officers rushing to render aid before the scene was fully secured.

Rivers made his first court appearance Monday, Oct. 26, before Leon Circuit Judge Andrew Sheeran. When Sheeran told him he faced 11 counts of attempted homicide, a woman identified by court personnel as his mother said over Zoom, “This is a lie,” before she was muted, the Democrat reported. Sheeran ordered him held in secure detention. Assistant State Attorney Linda Berman sought no-contact orders and tight limits on his communications. “He shall not have access to social media applications such as Instagram, Snapchat and any other applications like that,” Berman said. “He shall not have unsupervised access to the internet and he shall be supervised for school purposes only while in the detention center.”