Florida man convicted in fatal ambush of 18-year-old
09/03/2025 12:03 pm PDT
SANFORD, Fla. (TCN) -- A man faces life in prison after recently being convicted of "gunning down" an 18-year-old victim while he was parked in a vehicle.
The Florida State Attorney's Office for the 18th Judicial Circuit announced Sept. 3 that Thallas Inman was found guilty of murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Isaiah Diaz with an automatic rifle. A jury also found him guilty of trying to fatally shoot two other men who were in a vehicle with Diaz. Inman is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 7.
According to prosecutors, on the afternoon of Nov. 20, 2022, Inman and two accomplices went up to a parked red Kia Optima armed with assault-style rifles and opened fire on the vehicle and the three occupants. The state attorney's office said more than 53 shots were fired, and two people in the Kia were struck, including Diaz, who "suffered 'a massive amount of wounds.'" The other victim was transported to a hospital and survived, while the third victim sustained minor injuries.
Sanford Police asked for the public's help in identifying the suspect, and Inman's mother reportedly came forward and said she recognized her son in video surveillance footage. However, she did not testify at trial.
Authorities did not identify or arrest the other accomplices.
Inman previously pleaded guilty in 2017 to attempted murder in Volusia County and was sentenced as a youthful offender to six years in the Department of Corrections. In a separate ongoing case, Inman is purportedly one of 12 defendants indicted for murder and six counts of attempted murder in connection with a drive-by shooting in January 2023.
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