Tampa man guilty in 2021 murder of nursing student, jury says
Weeks after police found Savannah Mathis’ Nissan Altima peppered with bullets and crashed into a wall in Tampa’s West Riverfront neighborhood, they arrested Vakarvery Scott on a murder charge.
Mathis, 21, had been driving her sister Nena around the neighborhood so she could check on her ex-boyfriend. The sisters circled the block three times outside a home Scott was visiting. As they left the neighborhood, Scott opened fire on them. A few days later, Mathis, who was a nursing student, died surrounded by family at Tampa General Hospital.
More than two years after the shooting, Scott’s lawyers argued this week during trial that his paranoia got the better of him. After all, he had been the victim in a similar drive-by shooting just a year prior to the incident, they told a 12-person jury.
But jurors found it didn’t excuse Scott’s actions on that December night in 2021.
Scott, now 22, was found guilty of first-degree murder after the jury deliberated for about 10 hours on Friday. He will remain in jail until the sentencing hearing, set for Mar. 28 at 2 p.m. Scott faces life in prison.
A combination of DNA samples, ballistics and surveillance footage placed Scott at the crime scene. Elizabeth Muller, assistant state attorney for Hillsborough County, said it would be enough to convict Scott.
Investigators found a 9mm Shadow Systems handgun and matching shell casings. Fingerprints left on the gun were a match for Scott. Surveillance footage shows Scott tossing the weapon under a car before fleeing, according to court records.
Video also shows Scott discharging a firearm and getting into the rear seat of a silver Toyota Corolla before it was driven off, according to court records. In an interview with police, Scott identified himself as the shooter in the video footage.
He fired 12 shots at the sisters, prosecutors said.
“Twelve intentional decisions made by Mr. Scott,” Muller said Tuesday. “Twelve opportunities to think about what he was doing.”
Three bullets hit the Mathis sisters: One struck Savannah Mathis in the head, another hit her in the abdomen and a third lodged in Nena Mathis’ right thigh. She showed jurors her scar after taking the stand Tuesday.
Nena Mathis testified that she ducked for cover and called out her sister’s name as the shots riddled their car.
“I seen her head tilted to the side and blood was coming out of her mouth,” she said.
Their car crashed into a wall near the corner of Grace Street and Delaware Avenue.
Scott, who testified during the trial, told police that there was another car in the same intersection at the time and that he thought someone in that car opened fire on him. But surveillance video that captured the incident doesn’t show anyone firing first at Scott.
