A Citrus County jury in Inverness has found 37-year-old business owner Dwann Demetrius Ross Jr. guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm for the May 28, 2024 shooting that left 33-year-old Traske C. Johnson dead in the parking lot of Colonial Plaza. After several days of witness testimony and digital evidence, jurors returned the guilty verdict Thursday, and Ross was immediately taken into custody as he awaits sentencing on February 24, 2026.
Verdict and prosecution
According to the Office of The State Attorney, Fifth Judicial Circuit, prosecutors argued that a brief physical fight in the parking lot turned deadly when Ross went to retrieve a handgun and then shot Johnson multiple times. The jury agreed, convicting him of second-degree murder with a firearm after a trial held in Citrus County.
The state attorney’s release notes that Assistant State Attorneys Blake Shore and Kevin Davis tried the case, relying on a mix of eyewitness accounts and electronic evidence. With the verdict now in, Ross is set to stay behind bars until the sentencing hearing in late February 2026.
Scene and investigation
Deputies with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to Colonial Plaza at 2020 Highway 44 West on May 28, 2024, where they found Johnson in the parking lot suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He did not survive.
Investigators detained Ross at the scene and interviewed him while detectives gathered witness statements and other physical and digital evidence. Local coverage of the original incident highlighted how quickly deputies secured the area and took the suspect into custody as the investigation got underway.
What led up to the killing
In court, prosecutors walked jurors through a tense buildup that played out in the days before the shooting. Testimony and text messages introduced at trial showed an increasingly heated exchange between Ross and Johnson, which prosecutors said set the stage for the clash at Colonial Plaza.
Witnesses described a short, physical confrontation between the two men just before the shots were fired. According to court documents and the state attorney’s summary, Ross was angry over alleged comments Johnson had made to a woman who was with Ross, a detail prosecutors pointed to as the motive behind the confrontation. Those pre-shooting messages and witness accounts formed a key part of the state’s narrative, as reflected in public reporting on the verdict.
Stand Your Ground and legal context
Ross at several points claimed he acted in self-defense. However, a Stand Your Ground hearing held in August 2025 did not go his way. As the Office of The State Attorney, Fifth Judicial Circuit explains, the court rejected his motion to dismiss, finding that he was not justified in using deadly force, which cleared the path for the case to proceed to trial.
Under Florida law, the murder statute (F.S. §782.04) lays out the different degrees of homicide, while separate provisions such as Florida Legislature section 775.087 allow for crimes to be reclassified or penalties to be enhanced when a firearm is carried or used. Those sentencing rules are expected to play a major role when the judge decides Ross’s punishment.
What’s next
With the guilty verdict in hand, the case now moves into the sentencing phase. Ross will remain in custody until his February 24, 2026 hearing, when a judge will determine how long he will spend in prison.
Assistant State Attorneys Shore and Davis, who secured the conviction using a combination of witness testimony and electronic messages, are expected to ask for a significant sentence in light of the firearm element, according to public accounts of the verdict and the state attorney’s release.
