Patrick Stanley Jr., a 21-year-old Black man from Ocala, Florida, was a beloved son and grandson. His grandmother, Alice Flax, recalled a vigil held for him where friends and family gathered. “All I still got to say is he’s truly loved, he’s gonna always be loved,” she said. On the morning of his death, Flax was visiting her grandchildren when she heard gunfire. “In a few minutes, pow pow pow pow pow again,” she recalled.
“Then I went to see what was happening and he was laying back there behind my little shade right there.”
The shooting happened around 11:20 a.m. on Saturday, January 6, 2024, in the 2200 block of SW 2nd Street in Ocala. When Ocala Police Department officers arrived, they found Patrick with a gunshot wound to his leg. He was rushed to a local hospital, where his grandmother held his hand as he died later that evening. “His hands were nice and warm and then they went to get cold and then the numbers went coming down to the zero’s,” she shared. “Then everything just went zeros and he was gone. Just that quick.”
According to investigators, the shooting occurred during a prearranged marijuana deal. Police said that Patrick was attempting to steal the marijuana from two men and was shot in the leg as he tried to run away. It is not known whether he was armed at the time. The Ocala Police Department stated, “Our hearts go out to the loved ones of Mr. Stanley Jr. during this difficult time.”
Through video footage and witness statements, detectives identified two suspects who were in separate vehicles, a blue Toyota Camry and a gray Hyundai Elantra. Police arrested the drivers, 20-year-old Jaden Burton and 23-year-old Kamrun Goffe. Both men were charged with premeditated first-degree murder and held in the Marion County Jail without bond. Goffe faced additional charges of engaging in a criminal offense with a firearm and possession of over 20 grams of marijuana.
However, on January 12, 2024, just days after the arrests, prosecutors dropped all murder and related charges against both Jaden Burton and Kamrun Goffe. As of January 2024, with the charges against the only arrested suspects dropped, the murder of Patrick Stanley Jr. remains unsolved.
