Gadsden County man identified by sister as victim in Tallahassee mass shooting

Brianna Ward said her little brother was destined to be a star.

Quan'tayveun Butler was a shining basketball player at Gadsden County High School in 2021-23, earning the nickname "Mr. Thousand Points" after he scored 1,000 points in a single season. He was also a member of the Tallahassee Democrat's All-Big Bend boys basketball first team in 2023.

"I know he was going to make it somewhere, that's what he wanted to do," said Ward, 22.

His big sister calls him "Pooh," an affectionate nickname he just couldn't shake.

She said he had scholarships for athletics, and after graduating about a year ago, he planned to enroll at Tallahassee Community College with hopes of eventually transferring to Florida A&M University and play on the basketball team.

"Pooh barely went out the house, and when he was outside the house, he was up on somebody's basketball court. He was just somewhere playing ball," she said.

But on Saturday evening, he decided to hang out with some friends in the darkened parking lot of an Apalachee Parkway shopping center in Tallahassee.

A little after midnight, the 20-year-old Gadsden County resident was shot and killed in a mass shooting – the latest episode of gun violence to rock Florida's capital city. The shooting brought the local death-by-guns toll to 13 this year, far outpacing the number of deaths last year.

According to a Democrat analysis of gun violence in Tallahassee and Leon County, at this time last year, three people were killed and around 26 injured in 31 shootings.

The Tallahassee Police Department, which did not respond to inquiries for this article, has shared few details about the shooting.

"It is unclear if the victims were the intended targets," TPD wrote in its original incident alert.

Police responded shortly after 2:30 a.m. to the Parkway Center, which was without power, after getting a call about gunshots at what police called a gathering. They found "multiple" shooting victims, including two men who died at the scene.

One was Quan'tayveun.

"I found out because a couple of people were calling me and texting me and saying 'Bri, I think the other person that was killed was your little brother,' and I was like no way because I would have seen something," she said. "But then his mom called me and said, 'Bri, they're saying our baby is dead.'"

In addition to the deaths, a man and woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The mass shooting happened as residents, officials and first responders are still grappling with the destruction caused by three tornadoes that lashed much of Tallahassee with winds as high as 100 mph.

The USA TODAY Network and Tallahassee Democrat define a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are hit with gunfire, even if there are no fatalities. Under that definition, Florida leads the country in the number of mass shootings.

Sister describes close-knit relationship with brother

Ward, a Tallahassee resident, maintains that Quan'tayveun always stayed "out the way," meaning he wasn't involved in any conflicts or "beefs" with others.

She says she knew everything about her brother, and he didn't get away with much since she was very protective of him. Nonetheless, there are many details she's unsure of.

She said she doesn't personally know any of the others who were shot, nor does she know where his friends went after gunfire broke out, and she's uncertain of why or how this happened.

But she believes that a confrontation with gang members started on social media, and her brother was caught in the middle.

"They didn't try to shoot him, but just because they all were in the same area and people just shoot, they really don't aim ... and my little brother got killed."

She has gathered with family and friends to remember her brother fondly.

"What I'm going to miss most is his smile," she told the Democrat in an interview. "He was just a goofy person, he loved to make people laugh."

More: TPD releases more details on weekend mass shooting at parking lot gathering

She said they were inseparable and did almost everything together. They would get breakfast together, she would accompany him to the barbershop for a fresh haircut, and he absolutely loved to drive her Audi.

"I'll definitely miss the car rides," she said. "I was supposed to give him the car."

She said had she been there, her brother would probably still be alive, and the resentment she feels for those who left him alone as he cried for help in a stranger's arms has been keeping her up at night.

"Y'all left him, you're not friends," Ward said. "That's just like the most (expletive)-up thing about it, that he was actually there with a stranger, and she said he was just screaming for help. That's all he could say."

Funeral information

• Viewing and visitation for Quan'tayveun Butler will be held at Williams Funeral Home, 1555 Pat Thomas Pkwy. in Quincy, 4-6 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
• A funeral service will be at Gadsden County High School, 27001 Blue Star Hwy. in Havana, 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 18.

Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com . Follow her on Twitter/X: @AlaijahBrown3

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gadsden County man identified by sister as victim in Tallahassee mass shooting