panama city beach Archives - Larry Basford

Prosecutor Jeffrey Moore, center, listens as Bay County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Jason Daffin, right, speaks at the sentencing for Zyion Robinson.

Panama City Beach Police Chief J.R. Talamantez speaks at sentencing Friday.

A 19-year-old Georgia man facing up to 15 years in prison for firing 7 shots at a Spring Break crowd last year was sentenced to 3 years in prison Friday.

A jury found Zyion Christopher Robinson guilty July 30 of Attempted Manslaughter with a Firearm, Discharging a Firearm in Public, and Improper Display of a Firearm. The first charge, because it involved the discharge of a firearm, is a Second-Degree Felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Prosecutor Jeffrey Moore asked for a 10-year sentence.

The testimony and evidence proved Robinson retrieved his gun after he came out on the losing end of a scuffle on April 11, 2025. He spotted members of the group and opened fire from a fast-food drive through toward a crowd of people. While no one was injured, it created chaos and panic on the Beach. Panama City Beach Police Chief J.R. Talamantez and Bay County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Jason Daffin both addressed the court seeking a stiff sentence both as punishment and as a deterrent to keep the beaches safer.

“The fact that our officers did not find blood on the ground when they arrived does not represent that our community did not bleed severely that night,” Talamantez said to the judge. “The fact that we did not find a body on the ground was luck. I can’t run a police department on luck.”

The defendant with a social media post showing off the firearm.

Talamantez, Daffin, and a witness from trial – she was at the drive-through with her young son in a car only feet away when Zyion fired – said the shooting left the community scared and in shock.

“People who come here for the beach should be able to go out on it … and I think our community deserves better,” Daffin said. “I ask that we send a message to anyone else who comes into our community and commits violence.”

A key witness at trial was at the drive-through with her 10-year-old son in the backseat when the defendant opened fire from feet away. She said in a victim impact statement that their lives are forever changed. She said her son slept in her bed for months out of fear, does not feel safe in traffic. They rarely eat out anymore and stay home during Spring Break.

“I am angry that my son has had to carry the consequences of someone else’s inability to manage his emotions,” she wrote. “I am angry that a gun was brought into a public place and used without regard for the lives of the people who happened to be there. I am angry that someone felt entitled to change the lives of strangers in such a profound and permanent way.”

She wrote that she hopes to one day return to a safe and peaceful feeling about her community.

“I am not asking the Court to see him only as the worst thing he has ever done,” she wrote. “But I am asking the Court to understand that what happened to us was real, that it mattered, and that the consequences did not end when the shooting stopped. There is a difference between having empathy for someone and excusing their actions.”

Moore, addressing the judge, said, “These are adult actions, it deserves an adult sentence.”

“What do you think he deserves?” Judge Register asked.

“Ten years,” Moore replied. “I think a 10-year-sentence is more than appropriate.”

Judge Register said that taking everything into consideration – from the defendant’s age and lack of criminal history to the impact on the community and people like the witness at the drive through – that a 36-month sentence was appropriate.

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

A 19-year-old Georgia man who fired 7 shots at a crowd during Spring Break last year was found guilty of Attempted Manslaughter and two other charges Thursday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

A jury deliberated 17 minutes before finding Zyion Christopher Robinson guilty of Attempted Manslaughter, with the special finding that he used a Firearm. That makes it a Second-Degree Felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Jurors also found the defendant guilty of Discharging a Firearm in Public and Improper Display of a Firearm. Circuit Court Judge set sentencing for August 14.

The defendant was arrested April 11, 2025, after he fired 7 shots from a Checkers drive-through toward a group of people he had a confrontation with minutes earlier in a different parking lot. No one was injured.

Prosecutors Jeffrey Moore and Andrew Eppling called 6 witnesses – including 2 co-defendants – and presented evidence in which the defendant admitted firing the gun – to prove that the defendant fired the shots toward a crowd that included a man who had “bested” him in an earlier confrontation.

A key witness was a local woman who was at the Checkers drive-through only yards away with her 10-year-old son in the car. A key piece of evidence was video that showed a green laser from the defendant’s weapon that was pointed toward the crowd, not into the air as the defendant claimed.

“It comes down to a laser, a momma, and an angry young man,” Moore told jurors. “She had her son in the car and tunnel vision locked in on that shooter. She knew where he was pointing that gun – downrange at the crowd at Zaxby’s.”

“Here’s why he would do that,” Moore continued. “He had been bested. He had agreed to a fight in the parking lot of Wal-Mart and he got bested there, pushed to the ground, his pride hurt, angry. He wasn’t going to be bested again with the gun he had.”

The evidence showed the defendant drove to Panama City Beach that weekend to meet and family and friends here for Spring Break. They went to the beach behind Pineapple Willie’s and a verbal argument broke out between them and another group before police moved in dispersed the entire crowd.

The defendant’s group went to their car, parked at Wal-Mart, and were re-engaged by the group they had argued with on the beach. It was decided a “no gun” fight would be held between the defendant and someone in the other group.

The fight started right there. Witnesses said the defendant was not faring well and went to the ground at one point before police again moved through the crowd dispersed.

The defendant walked to the nearby Checkers and soon noticed a crowd gathering in the Zaxby’s parking lot nearby. In that crowd were the people he had the earlier confrontation with. He said he wanted his gun from the car.

A surveillance video shows the defendant and a female co-defendant walking down the Checker’s drive-through and stopping beside the car belonging to the local witness with her child in the car.

“He’s a hurt angry young man and he needs his gun,” Eppling told jurors in his closing argument as he narrated the video. “And he’s going to make sure they don’t run across him again. He actually fires it 7 times, he’s angry and his adrenaline is flowing.”

And while the defendant later told police he fired into the air to scare away the nearby crowd, Eppling played the video in slow motion pointed out that the laser sight on the gun was hitting objects straight out, and the muzzle flashes went that way as well.

Later, when police approached the defendant, he said, “I’m your guy.” He admitted to the shooting but claimed he fired into the air. He initially claimed he threw the firearm into a lake, then said it was thrown into a sewer drain, then told police where he had hidden it. They recovered it from behind a retaining wall.

Basford thanked the Panama City Beach Police Department for its investigation in the middle of a chaotic Spring Break night.

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

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