Tyriek Jacari Ganious murdered Emily Marie Gordon and Phillip James Simmons early Oct. 21, 2020, police said. (Mug shot: St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office)
A man has been sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for shooting and killing a woman and her boyfriend at an apartment complex. The affidavit out of St. Lucie County, Florida, indicates that Tyriek Jacari Ganious, 22, had some sort of argument with the victims, Emily Marie Gordon, 25, and Phillip James Simmons, 26, before shooting them multiple times.
“My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims,” Fort Pierce Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney said. “I’d like to personally thank them for their patience during the investigation and trial. Detective Clark and the team worked countless hours following up on leads to bring justice to the families. Their commitment certainly paid off with a conviction that will keep Ganious behind bars for the rest of his life.”
“We all we had — me, her, and my mom,” her sister, Chiquita Paige, said when the murders were unsolved, telling TC Palm that they did almost everything together.
Fort Pierce cops said they responded Oct. 21, 2020, at approximately 12:54 a.m. to the Madison Cay Apartment regarding a shooting. They arrived to find Gordon and Simmons near the parking lot. Both had been shot multiple times, including in the head.
Ganious, a St. Lucie County man, ended up getting arrested on Oct. 26, 2020, for an unrelated weapons charge.
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Cops said he had been wearing the same type of clothes as the shooting suspect.
Surveillance footage showed the victims and a suspect talking the suspect took out a gun and shot them both. According to officers, Ganious claimed under questioning that he had had a sexual relationship with Gordon.
Shown the surveillance footage, he denied that he and Simmons had been arguing, then changed his statement to say it was not him on video, according to the affidavit. Then he claimed it was “self-defense,” officers said.
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