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Tampa teen gets 5 years in prison for fatal shooting of Blake High grad

Yanmarkoz Jimenez told investigators he was waving around a Glock pistol and unintentionally pulled the trigger, hitting Crysi Coleman in the head.
 
Crysi Marie Coleman, 18, pictured here in a family photo, was fatally shot on Aug. 29 by 16-year-old Yanmarkoz Jimenez while they were hanging out at the Tampa home of a friend. Jimenez told investigators he was waving a Glock handgun that he thought was unloaded when he unintentionally pulled the trigger, hitting Coleman. Now 17, Jimenez pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter and evidence tampering as part of a deal with prosecutors and a judge sentenced him to five years in state prison.
Crysi Marie Coleman, 18, pictured here in a family photo, was fatally shot on Aug. 29 by 16-year-old Yanmarkoz Jimenez while they were hanging out at the Tampa home of a friend. Jimenez told investigators he was waving a Glock handgun that he thought was unloaded when he unintentionally pulled the trigger, hitting Coleman. Now 17, Jimenez pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter and evidence tampering as part of a deal with prosecutors and a judge sentenced him to five years in state prison. [ Courtesy Shiobhan Olivero ]
Published May 5, 2022|Updated May 5, 2022

TAMPA — A Tampa teen who fatally shot a beloved Blake High School graduate while playing with a handgun last year is headed to state prison.

A Hillsborough County judge on Thursday sentenced 17-year-old Yanmarkoz Jimenez to five years in prison followed by five years of probation for the death of Crysi Coleman, 18. Prosecutors said Jimenez shot Coleman one night last summer, then he and a friend drove Coleman to the emergency room, dropped her off and cleaned up the crime scene.

Jimenez, who was 16 at the time of the shooting but was prosecuted as an adult, pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a weapon and evidence tampering as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. He faced up to 35 years in prison for the two charges, and state guidelines called for a little more than 10 years.

Jimenez’s age and the fact the shooting was unintentional were among the factors in the plea deal, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Villamil told Judge Mark D. Kiser.

Jimenez’s attorney, Daniel Fernandez, said his client was “intensely remorseful” and sought the care of a psychiatrist after the shooting because he was almost suicidal.

Yanmarkoz Jimenez, 16, of Tampa was arrested on Oct. 1, 2021 on charges of manslaughter with a weapon and evidence tampering. Tampa police say JImenez admitted to waving around a Glock handgun that he thought was unloaded and unintentionally shot 18-year-old Crysi Coleman in the head. [ Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office ]

“This was a juvenile reckless act playing with a firearm,” Fernandez said. “The firearm went off accidentally and this was not an intentional act in any way whatsoever.”

Jimenez did not speak during the hearing beyond answering Kiser’s questions with “yes, sir” and “no, sir.”

Tampa attorney Shiobhan Olivero, who is also Crysi Coleman’s aunt, told Kiser the family understood the reasoning for the plea. Several other family members, including Crysi’s parents, Stephanie and Jon Coleman, attended the hearing via Zoom but did not speak. Her sister Shyla Coleman could be seen wiping tears throughout the hearing.

Related: Victim in Tampa teen’s manslaughter case was recent Blake High School grad

The shooting happened Aug. 29, 2021. About 10 p.m., police received a call about two young males arriving at Tampa General Hospital in a sport utility vehicle with a woman in the back seat who’d been shot in the head, an arrest report states.

A paramedic working at the emergency room entrance asked the pair what happened to the woman and they said they didn’t know. The two males, later determined to be Jimenez and 18-year-old Sabian Taft, then left. Coleman was pronounced dead about 15 minutes later.

Detectives learned Coleman had been hanging out at Taft’s house on the 2600 block of Durham Street in Tampa’s Palmetto Beach neighborhood. After detectives got a search warrant for the house, Taft told them Coleman had been shot in his bedroom by a 9mm Glock 19 he owned. He said he and Jimenez then drove her to the hospital.

Taft said he covered a bullet hole in his door with a sticker on one side and filled the other side with toothpaste, court records state. He also cleaned up blood from the bedroom.

Jimenez changed his account of what happened at least three times, finally admitting that he picked up the gun that was on the bed and took out the magazine, according to an arrest report. As he waved the gun around, he said, he unintentionally pulled the trigger. He said he thought the gun was unloaded and didn’t realize there was a round in the chamber. He hid the gun in a dog food bag at his house.

Taft was charged with evidence tampering. His case is still pending.

“The victim’s death is a tragic accident — another innocent life lost to someone being careless with a gun,” Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times. “We carefully crafted a sentence that would ensure punishment, and accountability, but also the opportunity for rehabilitation for the defendant— a 16-year-old kid with no criminal history who didn’t intend to hurt his friend.”

Crysi Marie Coleman, 18, pictured in a family photo. [ Courtesy Shiobhan Olivero ]

Coleman was the youngest of Jon Coleman and Stephanie Coleman’s three children and lived with her mother in Riverview. The family previously told the Times that she and Taft had met in middle school and dated but were just friends at the time of the shooting. The family said their daughter met Jimenez through Taft.

Coleman loved shopping, shoes and eating at Mr. and Mrs. Crab, her family said. She was a talented singer who sang in the choral at Blake, where she graduated with honors. She was in the process of applying to Concord Medical Institute to become a medical assistant.

Olivero told the Times after the hearing that the family would have liked more prison time for Jimenez but also has hope for him and Taft.

“We do hope that they use this to come out on the other side and do good,” Olivero said.