SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A 19-year-old man who was one of two shooters who opened fire in a parking lot of a Sanford apartment complex, killing a 16-year-old boy, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.
Princeton Postell, who was 17 at the time of the fatal shooting, was arrested in October 2023 in death of Jamarcus Parker and convicted of first-degree premeditated murder in May 2025.
[See previous coverage of the fatal shooting below]
According to police, Parker was hanging out in the parking lot of Stratford Point Apartments with a group of friends when a burgundy Kia drove into the complex. Two people got out of the vehicle, approached the group and opened fire, police said.
During a hearing Wednesday, the victim’s mother had an impact statement read that said she “raced to where Jamarcus lay bleeding from his wounds‚” according to the state attorney’s office.
“All I could do was hold his hand, praying for a miracle that never came,” Jamecia Parker’s statement read, according to a release. “My source of strength and my guiding light was no longer alive.”
[See what the Sanford police chief said after arrests were made in the shooting]
Prosecutors said Postell led the plan to kill Parker over some insults, according to a release from the state attorney’s office.
“After watching the video that captured this heinous act, the suspects’ blatant disregard for the lives of so many people is astounding,” Sanford police Chief Cecil Smith said after the shooting. “They cold-bloodedly approached a crowd of teenagers and opened fire. As if this isn’t appalling enough, watching the young children on bicycles and throwing a football on a Sunday run for their lives as the shooters gunned down a 16-year-old leaves me speechless and ignites a fire in me.”
Postell and Jackie Irving were arrested days after the shooting. Irving, 20, was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder in May 2025 and sentenced to life in prison.
A third person was arrested on an accessory to murder charge.