Desmond Rattary, a 24-year-old Black male from Riviera Beach, FL, was fatally shot on August 11, 2020, in West Palm Beach. The incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. when West Palm Beach police responded to a ShotSpotter activation on the north end of the city. Upon arrival, they found Rattary with gunshot wounds, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation revealed that the shooting took place during a parking-lot transaction involving Percocet painkiller pills.
According to police reports, Rattary was giving a ride to a friend when he mentioned needing to make a stop. They pulled into a parking lot near Broadway and 46th Street, where Rattary met with Shaquille Parkinson, a 25-year-old Black male. Rattary got into Parkinson's vehicle, briefly returned to his own car to retrieve money, and then re-entered Parkinson's vehicle. An altercation ensued, during which Rattary attempted to exit the vehicle before gunshots were fired.
The city's ShotSpotter system detected six gunshots, and officers recovered a 9mm handgun registered to Parkinson, a revolver, and a small plastic bag containing 15 hydrocodone pills at the scene. A witness reported seeing Parkinson's vehicle moving erratically and Rattary trying to walk back to his car after being shot. The witness attempted to drag Rattary to the car to drive him to a hospital but realized he was already dead.
Nearly a year after the incident, Shaquille Parkinson was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and conspiracy to sell or deliver a scheduled narcotic. Florida law defines third-degree murder as the unintentional, unlawful killing of a human being while committing a nonviolent felony. Parkinson was taken into custody and held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail.
