'Absolute nightmare': Court hearing shows how gun violence is 'haunting our community'

Joshua Purcell kept a written list of goals: "I will get close to God, I will read my Bible, I will remember to take out the trash and I will put my best foot forward in all the sports I play."

But the 16-year-old never got the chance to see these things through.

On July 15, 2020, Josh lost his life to four bullets in the parking lot of Bethel AME Church, his cell phone lying next to him streaming video of a gray sky after falling out of his hand.

Danquies Anderson, the young man responsible for Josh's death, also lost life as he once knew it — making this one of Tallahassee's gut-wrenching examples of the extreme consequences of the tragic combination of teens and guns.

"This is the fact pattern that is haunting our community," State Attorney Jack Campbell said. "This is an absolute nightmare."

Anderson, who was 18 when he pulled the trigger, sat in a Leon County courtroom Thursday afternoon where he waived his right to a jury trial and let Circuit Judge Stephen Everett decide his fate.

The now 21-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years of probation for second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a delinquent.

"A case like this one presents a unique difficulty for a court system," Everett said to Anderson. "You are old enough to be deemed an adult because you were 18 at the time of your offense, but you're also young enough to not really fully appreciate how your actions impacted the lives of others or the fact that you could've ended up in prison for the rest of your life."

'I will never be the same'

A continuous flow of tears was shed as the final moments of Josh's life were rehashed in the courtroom.

The fatal shooting stemmed from a prior fight between Josh's friends and Anderson. When Josh got wind of the incident, he set out to settle the matter himself.

His grandmother, Malinda Williams, said Josh always told her he would take a bullet for his friends.

"And this is what happened," she said.

Josh, who was also armed with a gun, went live on Instagram shortly before the shooting, capturing the moments leading up to the fatal gunfire.

He walked and talked to the camera for over 15 minutes to get to Anderson's home, looking for a fight.

"Let's get even, let's get even," Josh said on the video. "I'm gonna be at their front door."

As the video played, several members of Josh's family cried, shrieked in pain and darted out of the courtroom as Josh was gunned down. Those who remained held one another as Campbell continued. He warned family members, who averted their gaze, before showing horrific photos from the crime scene and explaining facts of the case.

His loved ones waited for their turn to speak in front of the court, expressing their grief and saying their last goodbyes.

"I will never be the same," Armonie Mack, Josh's sister, said through sobs. "This world is so very evil, and I don't think it deserved you."

Mack looked to her baby brother for motivation, support and strength, and on that day, her joy and faith was robbed.

"My brother was less than two minutes away from me, and I didn't know he needed saving," she said.

Royle King, the founder of Omega Lamplighters, a local youth leadership program that Josh was a part of, said his death severely impacted the program and the community as a whole. He was an exciting, passionate young man, King said.

"I love him in life and in death," he said.

Williams said her grandson was the "one special gift" of her life. She raised him to have good morals and he had high hopes for his future, she said.

"I will love Joshua today, I will love Joshua tomorrow, and I will love Joshua forever," Williams said.

Another smoking gun

Florida's capital city is riddled with flying bullets and shattered lives.

Issues that once were solved with fist fights, Campbell said, now end with bullets, blood and tears.

Gun violence has been steadily on the rise in Tallahassee, and it's a problem that leaders are constantly putting their heads together trying to solve.

In this case, both sides agreed: The shooting was a tragedy, and the attorneys' hearts ache for the young lives lost.

"I haven't had a case harder than this," Campbell said in his closing statement to Judge Everett. "Today I got to pray that you will find wisdom that I haven't."

Alex Morris, Anderson's attorney who took the case pro bono, said he doesn't argue that Anderson's actions were acceptable. He also admitted to not having the right answer as to what his punishment should be.

"I have no idea why children have access to guns," Morris said in his closing statement. "I have no idea why they think that it's okay to threaten one another with guns, and I have no idea why they settle their squabbles and their scores with guns."

Campbell said in a post-hearing interview with the Tallahassee Democrat that he hates that this happened, but if the outcome can save other young men from the same fate it's important for the community to hear.

"I've got to stop these young people from killing each other," he said.

Questions of whether the shooting was an act of self defense were brought to the table, but were ultimately ruled out by investigators, who concluded that Anderson surprised Josh in the parking lot before shooting at him from behind.

Defining this as a Stand Your Ground case would be the easy way, Campbell said. But he took an oath to make Tallahassee a safe community, and dismissing charges under the guise of self-defense doesn't create a safe community, he said.

Reaching kids while they're young, before they start down the wrong path, is what it takes to keep them from falling into the grip of guns.

Before his death, Josh was "exactly the kid we were trying to save," he said.

"I want every high school kid to hear, I want every young person to hear: If you decide to go and you have a gunfight, one of them's in a grave and the other is in a prison," Campbell said. "You don't want to be either one of them. So please, oh, please, stop this nonsense."

Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Court hearing becomes a plea to end the gunfights in Tallahassee