FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David Chapman
Phone: (904) 255-3004
Cell: (904) 524-6626
ChapmanD@coj.net
May 23, 2024
MILLER FOUND GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER FOR SHOOTING DEATH OF MICHEL RICE
State Attorney Melissa Nelson announces that a Duval County jury found Tre’Shawn Miller guilty of Manslaughter for the shooting death of Michel Rice in 2020. With the verdict, Miller faces up to 30 years in Florida State Prison. The Honorable Jeb Branham will sentence Miller at a later date.
On Nov. 28, 2020, officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to a drive-by shooting on Dunn Avenue. Rice called 911 and said he had been shot. He stayed on the line as he was dying. Another 911 caller witnessed the shooting and reported shots being fired at Rice’s car as they were driving. Officers found Rice shot to death inside his car, which had crashed into a tree. The driver’s side of Rice’s car was riddled with bullet holes. The witness reported the license plate number of the shooter’s car and described a black car pulling up next to Rice, shooting, and continuing west on Dunn Avenue.
Six days later, patrol officers located the suspect car and conducted a traffic stop. Miller was driving, and the owner of the car — his girlfriend — was in the front passenger seat. After obtaining a search warrant, officers found two firearms inside the car as well as an empty magazine that fires 5.7×28 ammunition next to Miller’s ID. Multiple 5.7×28 shell casings were recovered from the scene, which are a distinctive caliber. A search warrant for Miller’s home led investigators to a gun box for the specific firearm that fires that ammunition. Surveillance footage confirmed Miller was driving his girlfriend’s car that day and showed Miller and two men at a store on City Station Drive following Rice, who was inside shopping. When Rice left the store, Miller and two men got into the black car and drove after him.
The case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Katelyn Johnston and Corie Posey.