The Osceola County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate three other deadly shootings believed to be gang-related, include this May 2022 homicide on Old Dixie Highway (News-Gazette File Photo)
Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon announced Wednesday three arrests have been made in a November 2024 Kissimmee shooting that left a 20-year-old man dead.
Chalking the shooting up to gang violence, the Sheriff's Office also highlighted three other unsolved murders that involve guns and gang related violence.
On Nob. 20, 2024, deputies thought they were responding to a car crash at the intersection Greenup and Smith streets, just south of Donegan Avenue and east of Orange Blossom Trail. They found Kashorn Armand deceased, shot multiple times in a Range Rover. Detectives worked over the following month to determine it was a pre-meditated murder linked to organized gang activity in the area, although Blackmon said the victim was not a gang member.
The ensuing investigation led to the arrest of Cornelius Walls, 21, and Ta’Shard Smith and Sincere McKenzie, who were 17-year-old minors at the time of the shooting. The three were indicted by a grand jury in January.
The U.S. Marshals’ Office assisted with locating and apprehending Smith, who was still at large. He was arrested and booked into the Osceola County jail on Tuesday. Walls and McKenzie were already in custody in separate state correction facilities on unrelated charges and were served their homicide warrants.
"We'd like to recognize the grand jury for stepping up and doing the right thing," Blackmon said. "There was a lot of evidence in this case."
Blackmon said the Sheriff's Office is investigating three other years-old murders — all investigated as gang-related involving guns by detectives — in the area east of OBT and between Osceola Parkway and Vine Street.
On May 14, 2018, 20-year-old Daunte Jevon Morris was shot and killed near Johnson Street and Garden Street as he was a passenger in a red Nissan 4dr at approximately 9 p.m.
On May 10, 2020, 38-year-old Cornell Omar Clarke was shot inside a residence on Old Dixie Highway less than a block from Orange Blossom Trail at approximately 10:30 pm.
On May 20, 2022, 26-year-old Jaqwan Thomas-Jacob Dockery was shot and killed, found lying on the ground unresponsive, and three others were wounded, outside the Key West Market on Old Dixie Highway.
Anyone with information on any of these unsolved murders can contact Crimeline, remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward if an arrest is made based on information provided.
"Most of them migrate from Orange County and come to Osceola," Blackmon said of the gang activity. "We have some here in Osceola we keep our eyes on. Since I came on in June, it's been a focus for us."
