Was a shootout and a crash that ended in man's death an act of murder? How a jury decided.

WEST PALM BEACH — A jury last week found a West Palm Beach man not guilty in a deadly shootout and vehicle crash last May near Palm Beach International Airport that claimed the life of a 25-year-old man.

Jurors on April 24 acquitted Nikobra Stringer, 27, of first-degree murder and attempted murder charges in the death of Alonzo Dunmore following a trial before Senior Judge Barry Cohen. Prosecutors dismissed a charge against Stringer of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

At trial, the court asked jurors to determine whether Stringer was a principal in Dunmore's death on May 9, 2023. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators said both men were in a BMW SUV that crashed that morning as they and the vehicle's driver were involved in a gunfire exchange with at least one person in another vehicle.

Dunmore was thrown to the pavement from the SUV's front passenger seat shortly before 12:30 a.m. as the BMW struck a concrete pole and electrical box at the corner of Westgate and Congress avenues, about a mile north of PBIA.

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Did accused know fellow passengers had weapons? He said he did not.

Investigators said that, prior to the crash, the BMW had chased a Volkswagen SUV west, then east on Westgate. Surveillance-camera video showed Dunmore hanging out of the BMW's front passenger window seconds before it turned north onto Congress and crashed, the sheriff's office said.

Investigators arrested Stringer and Quinton Henderson, the BMW's driver, weeks later on murder and attempted murder charges. Court records indicate that the men are relatives.

Stringer reportedly made statements on monitored telephone calls to his family indicating that he was in a rear passenger seat of the BMW when his cousins, Henderson and Dunmore, pulled out weapons he did not know were in the vehicle. Henderson and Dunmore then began shooting as a person in the other SUV fired at them, a defense motion quotes Stringer as saying.

Court records identified the victim of the attempted murder as Zaquan Baa.

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Judge granted separate trials to co-defendants in 2023 fatal crash, shooting

In February, Circuit Judge Sarah Willis granted a motion by Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Ramsey for Stringer and Henderson, 32, to be tried separately. Willis determined both men made statements that could be deemed admissible at trial for one but not the other. Henderson has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is awaiting trial.

According to sheriff's office accounts, deputies responded to multiple 911 calls on the morning in May 2023 as witnesses reported gunfire involving two vehicles. They found the crashed BMW and Dunmore's body lying on the pavement about 10 feet away.

They also found the Volkswagen disabled and unoccupied on the opposite side of the intersection. Both vehicles had extensive damage from the gunfire exchange. A blood trail led deputies to Stringer, who was found taking cover at a nearby business. Deputies noted that Stringer had what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his left arm.

Stringer denied being involved in either the shooting or the crash and told investigators he had been walking along Congress when he heard gunfire and a bullet hit him.

However, surveillance video captured Stringer running from the BMW after the crash and his cellphone was found during a subsequent search of the vehicle, investigators said.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham . Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Was a shootout and a crash that ended in man's death an act of murder? How a jury decided.