Testimony began this week in the first-degree murder trial of Jahmir Moore, the Tampa teen accused of shooting 14-year-old Jevario Buie near railroad tracks in April 2024, with prosecutors arguing the killing was payback for an earlier shooting and defense attorneys insisting Buie drew a gun first.
Jury selection got underway Tuesday morning in Hillsborough County court, and testimony followed shortly after, according to 10 Tampa Bay. Prosecutors told jurors Moore shot Buie as revenge stemming from a feud, while the defense countered that Buie pulled a gun and attempted to shoot Moore first, raising self-defense as the central issue for the jury to resolve, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times.
A Minute-by-Minute Walk Toward the Tracks
Buie, an eighth-grader at Memorial Middle School who played football, was found dead near the railroad tracks between Busch Boulevard and Rome Avenue after officers responded to reports of gunfire in the area shortly after 3:30 p.m. on April 17, 2024, the station's report notes. Detectives determined Moore was the last person with Buie in the minutes before the killing, and City of Tampa police surveillance records showed Buie, Moore, and a third youth walking together near Busch Boulevard between 2:41 p.m. and 3:27 p.m. that day before Moore and Buie headed toward a dead end near the tracks at 3:33 p.m., with Moore seen walking away alone three minutes later.
Investigators said Buie's grandfather told them the teen went near the tracks believing he would stand up to a bully, though investigators told the outlet they remained unsure whether Moore always intended to shoot Buie. Detectives said they found records of Moore communicating with Buie, along with social media messages, notes, and search history that they say implicate him in the killing, and investigators believed Buie had been lured to the area. Moore also disclosed unreleased details about the murder in a social media message, according to police.
Digital Trail Pointed to a Planned Payback
Court records released in December 2024 showed that weeks before the shooting, Moore took part in an Instagram group chat about a separate shooting targeting a friend, writing that he was going to “set em up” and go after the person he believed was responsible, per the Tampa Bay Times. Those messages led police to believe Moore was responsible for Buie's death, and digital evidence along with search histories ultimately helped investigators identify him as a suspect.
It took Tampa police and partner agencies 231 days to arrest Moore after the April 2024 murder. In May 2024, Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay quadrupled its reward for information from $8,000 to $20,000, with Tampa police, State Attorney Suzy Lopez, and community leaders publicly appealing for tips, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Police and U.S. Marshals ultimately arrested Moore on December 4, 2024.
Escape From Juvenile Detention Added a Dramatic Turn
Days after his arrest, Moore escaped from the Hillsborough Regional Juvenile Detention Center on December 8, 2024, at approximately 10:33 a.m. while in a fenced outdoor recreation area, with staff realizing he was missing only during a subsequent headcount, WTSP reported. Surveillance video captured him running westbound from the facility around 10:45 a.m., and community surveillance later showed him moving along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard shortly after his escape.
Tampa Police officers and the U.S. Marshals task force found and arrested Moore without incident just after 9:15 p.m. that night at a home on West Keyes Avenue, about four miles from the detention center, where he was staying with his parents. Police said it was unclear who owned the home or whether the occupants were involved in his escape. His parents faced no charges, since Florida Statute 777.03 exempts immediate family members from accessory-after-the-fact liability. Tampa Police Chief Lee Barcaw said officers worked tirelessly after being alerted to the escape, adding that the community and Buie's family could rest knowing a dangerous individual was back in custody.
Adult Jail, Adult Charges, and What Sentencing Could Look Like
Following his recapture, a Hillsborough County Circuit Judge granted prosecutors' motion for pretrial detention, ordering Moore held without bond in the adult Hillsborough County Jail rather than juvenile facilities to eliminate further escape risk, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. State Attorney Suzy Lopez advocated for the adult jail placement to ensure public safety following the security breach.
Moore is being charged as an adult, according to the State Attorney's Office, and faces first-degree murder along with carrying a concealed firearm, tampering with evidence, being a minor in possession of a firearm, and a separate felony count of escaping from a juvenile facility. Lopez had exercised prosecutorial discretion to direct-file the murder and firearm charges against Moore as an adult, part of the office's stated push to hold violent juvenile gun offenders fully accountable, per the City of Tampa. Because Moore was 15 at the time of the shooting, Florida Statutes 921.1401 and 921.1402 bar a mandatory sentence of life without parole and guarantee him a judicial sentence review hearing after serving 25 years, rules enacted following the U.S. Supreme Court's Miller v. Alabama decision.
Buie's death devastated his school and neighborhood community; his funeral was followed by a car caravan to Orange Hill Cemetery as friends and family mourned the teen who had been preparing for his middle school graduation party. Now, more than two years later, a Hillsborough County jury must sort through surveillance footage, digital messages, and competing claims of ambush versus self-defense to decide what happened at the dead end near the tracks.
