Andre Ranglin Tuesday was given two Life sentences plus 145 years in prison for 10 convictions stemming from the ambush murder of O’Neil Augustus McDonald in a Beach apartment parking lot in 2024.

Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay imposed the jury’s recommendation of Life without parole for First Degree Murder, and also sentenced Ranglin to life for Attempted First Degree Premeditated Murder. Gay gave the defendant 20 years each for Attempted Burglary with Discharge of a Firearm, Attempted Felony Murder with a Firearm, and three counts of Attempted  Second Degree Murder with a Firearm. Finally, she sentenced him to 15 years on each of his two convictions of being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm. A 12-person jury found Ranglin guilty as charged Aug. 31 after a six-day trial.

Lead Prosecutor Peter Overstreet, who along with Prosecutor Frank Sullivan presented the case, said that without the defendant’s lifelong incarceration, no one here would be safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We’d like to thank the jury for their time and attention to this case,” Overstreet said. “The verdict speaks for itself.

“Andre Ranglin will die in prison for the shooting, killing, and death of O’Neil Augustus McDonald,” he continued. “And it will be a lesson to all of those who come and want to commit crimes in our part of the world here that we will prosecute you and hold you to the highest and stiffest penalties that we can.”

The charges stemmed from an Aug. 6, 2024, shooting at a Beach apartment complex. The defendant hunted down victim O’Neil Augustus McDonald that night, walked up behind the group he was talking to, opened fire, chased the victim across the parking lot while shooting, and then put two shots into the victim’s head as he lay on the ground gravely wounded. McDonald was shot 11 times. Three shots were fired at a second victim who was struck once but survived.

During the trial, Overstreet and Sullivan called 28 witnesses and presented evidence showing the defendant and victim had worked together at a Beach restaurant. On Aug. 1, 2024, the two argued and Ranglin displayed a firearm. He was fired.

On Aug. 6 Ranglin returned and after another altercation with McDonald, Ranglin told the owner to close the business the next day because “bullets were gonna fly.”

About an hour later a Ring camera captured Ranglin walking through a foyer at the victim’s apartment complex headed toward the victim and the people he was talking to outside. A few seconds later a rapid series of shots and then screaming is heard on the Ring camera.

“He was just standing outside minding his own business, talking to friends, and they didn’t have a care in the world,” Overstreet told jurors. “But Andre Ranglin couldn’t let those last events go. When he started shooting that gun he did not care where any of those bullets went, he wanted revenge.”

Ranglin continued shooting as he chased McDonald across the parking lot. McDonald’s injuries included shots through the lungs, his pelvis, his shoulder, both hands, and his ankle before collapsing next to a retention pond.

A witness said Ranglin walked up to the victim, who was laying helpless, and fired two final shots into the top of his skull.

“The defendant wanted his revenge and he got it,” Overstreet told jurors. “The victim’s lungs had been hit, were filling with blood and he collapsed, his ankle shattered and broken with multiple gunshot wounds. But Andre Ranglin was not done. He was not satisfied. As McDonald lay helpless on the ground Ranglin kept coming and put two in his head.”

The defendant then turned his attention to the witness, who was screaming at him. She fled toward her apartment with Ranglin in pursuit and shooting at her – hitting her once – before she got inside her apartment.

He tried to force his way in as she fought to shut and lock the door. He fired a final shot through the door before fleeing.

The defendant was captured later the next day at a Dothan, Ala., motel.

State Attorney Larry Basford thanked the Panama City Beach Police Department for its handling of a chaotic crime scene and an investigation involving multiple agencies that led to a quick arrest and successful prosecution.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.