John Richard Haliburton III, a 25-year-old man from Palm Beach Gardens, was killed on March 16, 2026, after what began as a tense encounter at the Azure Estates apartment complex in Riviera Beach turned into a burst of gunfire and panic. According to police and local reporting, the violence unfolded around 6:15 p.m. when a confrontation developed in and around the complex.
Haliburton’s mother later identified him publicly and described a life that had just entered a new chapter: he had recently become the father of a baby girl who was only a month old, and he was said to be proud of that new role. She also said he had been raised partly in Maine after she moved him away from South Florida as a child, and she pushed back against any quick assumptions about who he was, describing him instead as a smart young man with a future still ahead of him.
Investigators say the man accused in the shooting was 20-year-old Tramonte Terrell Gibson of West Palm Beach. Police have said Gibson had gone to Azure Estates to visit his girlfriend and at some point felt threatened. Authorities say he asked Haliburton to bring him a bag containing a gun, then took that weapon and opened fire. Court documents summarized in news coverage say surveillance footage showed Gibson outside the leasing office with Haliburton and others before he suddenly raised the gun and shot another man in the head. Haliburton then tried to disarm him, and police say Gibson shot him multiple times. Haliburton was later found between two buildings with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say the violence did not stop there. As Gibson fled, he allegedly tried to carjack two vehicles along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, shooting additional victims during the escape. In all, five men were shot, with two left in critical condition and two others expected to survive.
As for arrests and suspects, police moved quickly. Gibson was identified as the sole suspect and was captured later that night after a BOLO alert, when Florida Highway Patrol stopped him on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County and returned him to Palm Beach County. Authorities say he confessed during questioning. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Haliburton’s death, four counts of attempted murder, and one count of armed carjacking. During his first court appearance, he reportedly made disturbing statements, including claiming he was fighting things he could not see and, according to investigators, saying he had needed to “get rid of the demons.” Reporting on the court hearing also said he expressed no remorse for shooting his cousin or the other men. He was ordered held without bond. At this stage, the case appears to remain in the charging phase, and the available reporting does not show any trial, conviction, or final disposition yet. Separate reporting also noted that court records show Gibson had a prior 2024 arrest in West Palm Beach on charges including carjacking without a firearm and resisting an officer without violence.
