Shyheem Anthony Taylor was found guilty as charged with Second Degree Felony Murder, Attempted Robbery- Discharging a Firearm, and Aggravated Battery Causing Great
Bodily Harm. The jury returned the guilty verdict last night following a four-day trial in Lee County.
The crime happened on August 20, 2019. At approximately 9:28 p.m., the Fort Myers Police Department received an alert that gunshots had been fired on French Street.
The crime was unfolding at that time. Three men knocked on the front door of a home. When the homeowner opened the door, the armed, masked, men then barged in. One of them pointed a gun at the head of a woman holding her two-year-old child and asked about a safe. The mother and her child ran and hid in a nearby playroom.
Another of the armed men, the defendant, Taylor, ran past another woman, with her two children, a 2-yearold and two-month-old, near her bedroom. She grabbed her oldest and hid the child in a playroom, who joined the other victims. Taylor continued toward the master bedroom where the safe was located. The grandmother of the children, had been asleep in another bedroom, with her young grandson. She awoke and opened the door. Taylor pointed a gun at her. She slammed the door and hid.
During that time, the homeowner was able to grab his own firearm, and shot one of the armed men, killing him. The defendant then opened fire in the back of the house. He shot the homeowner and the mother who had been with her kids in the bedroom. They survived. Taylor fired a total of 16 shots and then ran out of the house. As he fled, he threw his gun in the grass nearby.
Taylor’s DNA was located on the weapon and the cartridge casings matched the spent casings in the back bedroom. The Fort Myers Police Department located Taylor and arrested him for the crime.
Assistant State Attorney Mara Marzano, of the Homicide Unit, and Assistant State Attorney Michael Curley, of the Special Victims Unit, prosecuted the case. Sentencing is scheduled for January 18, 2022.
Samantha Syoen – Communications Director, State Attorney’s Office