OPD arrests two men involved in drive-by shooting that killed Gino Nicolas and Tanya Skeen

Orlando Police arrested and charged with murder two men who are allegedly responsible for the drive-by shooting in front of a Parramore apartment complex that killed innocent bystanders Gino Nicolas and Tanya Skeen. 

Nicolas, 24, was the Orlando coordinator for President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper program and a mentor to local youth. Skeen, 46, was also known for helping her community and was a mother of three. 

During the drive-by shooting at the Landings at Carver Park apartment complex on April 16, Nicolas was outside with friends when he was hit, while Skeen was putting away groceries inside her apartment when she was struck by bullets, according to an OPD press release. 

Police arrested Lavon R. Shinn, 24, and Christopher Vincent Miller, also 24, and charged them both with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm, six counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and four counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, the release says. 

Skeen and Nicolas were not the intended targets, and OPD Detective Teresa Sprague says in a press conference that the suspects’ actual targets were not killed. 

“This case was solved through a combination of countless hours of dogged detective work and the cooperation of many in the community, which is still grieving from the loss of these two lives,” according to a statement from OPD. 

This article appears in Jun 8-14, 2016.