Trial Begins for Nyquan Priester, Accused of Killing Dylan Jenkins in Sarasota Shooting

SARASOTA, Fla. – The murder trial of Nyquan Priester, accused of the killing of 18-year-old Dylan Jenkins, commenced on Tuesday. Jenkins, a former standout football player at Riverview High School, was fatally shot on Dec. 29, 2021. According to Assistant State Attorney Megan McGinn, Jenkins was not the intended target of the shooting, as Priester had fired multiple rounds into the ground and air.

McGinn asserted that there was a party at Ackerman Park on the night of the shooting. Priester and three friends were preparing to leave in a car when he inquired about the location of a gun belonging to Kalvion Turner. “That’s when he said the words. I’m going to air this [explicit] out,” McGinn stated, before shooting into a crowd of people.

Turner and two female passengers in the car testified. They claimed they were unaware that anyone had been shot. However, Turner received text messages from a friend at the party indicating that someone had been hit. Turner responded, “Who got hit? That wasn’t even me. That was my dawg who let them shots off.”

The state presented surveillance video showing Priester disposing of the gun in Sarasota Bay later that night. Despite this, Priester’s attorney, Omar Abdelghany, argued that his client did not pull the trigger. Abdelghany contended that Priester had been betrayed by his three friends, who sought to protect themselves by accusing him.

The defense attorney emphasized that the prosecution’s evidence relied on the testimony of three individuals whose credibility was questionable. According to Abdelghany, the goal for the jury was not to establish whether a crime had been committed, but to determine who had actually pulled the trigger. He maintained that the alleged witnesses would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Priester had fired the gun.