Vero Beach man ordered to prison for killing a 20-year-old man during a 2020 drug deal

Melissa E. Holsman, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·4 min read
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VERO BEACH − A judge Thursday ordered a former Vero Beach High School student to serve a life prison term for fatally shooting a 20-year-old man four years ago during a botched drug deal to purchase marijuana.

Camden Stukins, 22, showed no reaction in court when Circuit Judge Robert Meadows imposed the mandatory punishment after a jury in March convicted him of second-degree murder and other charges related to the Jan. 19, 2020 murder of Carltravius Jones, of Vero Beach.

Standing at a podium chained at his ankles and wrists, Stukins, made no statements in court as he also was ordered to serve two additional 15-year prison terms for an attempted manslaughter conviction and one count of selling marijuana with a firearm.

“All sentences, all charges are to run consecutively,” Meadows ordered. “Not at the same time.”

Camden Stukins, 22, looks back at Carlton Jones, father of Carltravius Jones during a victim statement before Judge Robert Meadows for sentencing, Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the Indian River County Courthouse. Stukins was sentenced to life in prison for the 2020 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Carltravius Jones outside a BP Express Mart at 20th Avenue Southwest and Oslo Road in Indian River County. After a four-day trial, a jury convicted Stukins of second-degree murder and other charges related to the Jan. 19, 2020 murder of Carltravius Jones, who had driven to the BP Express Mart with four others to purchase marijuana from Stukins, according to court records and trial testimony.

As the hearing began Thursday, Jones' father, Carlton Jones, told Meadows he felt Stukins should have faced a first-degree murder charge. But he said he was told authorities determined they couldn’t prove his son’s killing was premeditated.

“I think listening to the trial, they could have proved premeditation. He’s lucky he got charged with second-degree murder,” Carlton Jones said as his voice broke with emotion. “When I think about my son I cry. Because I lost his mom a few years before that and I was going through my own troubles when he was murdered.”

The day he was killed, Carltravious Jones had four passengers with him when he pulled into the BP Express Mart at 20th Avenue Southwest and Oslo Road to buy pot from Stukins, then 18, according to records and trial testimony.

Jurors were told just before 4:30 p.m. that day, Stukins, of the 700 block of 4th Place Southwest, pulled into BP first in a four-door BMW and parked, followed by Jones in a silver Toyota sedan.

Camden Stukins, 22, looks back at Carlton Jones, father of Carltravius Jones during a victim statement before Judge Robert Meadows for sentencing, Thursday, May 9, 2024, at the Indian River County Courthouse. Stukins was sentenced to life in prison for a 2020 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Carltravius Jones outside a BP Express Mart at 20th Avenue Southwest and Oslo Road in Indian River County. After a four-day trial, a jury convicted Stukins of second-degree murder and other charges related to the Jan. 19, 2020 murder of Carltravius Jones, who had driven to the BP Express Mart with four others to purchase marijuana from Stukins, according to court records and trial testimony.

Detectives later learned the meet-up at the BP had been arranged through Snapchat.

Deadly drug deal

Stukins walked to the front passenger window and a drug transaction followed, according to an arrest affidavit.

Detectives were told Jones didn’t pay Stukins for the marijuana, and he got angry. Stukins then reached inside the Toyota and fired gunshots, striking both Jones and 17-year-old Almajzha Johnson in the head, who was in the front passenger seat.

With a gunshot to the head, Jones sped off through the parking lot, drove over bushes along 20th Avenue Southwest and continued across the road.

The Toyota was "T-boned" by a white pickup truck driving south along 20th Avenue Southwest, but kept going, then spun around and struck a second white pickup truck driving north on 20th Avenue Southwest.

A makeshift memorial has been set up for the victim involved in a fatal shooting on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020, at the BP Express Mart on Oslo Road in Indian River County. The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. while the victim was sitting in the driver's seat of a parked car with four other occupants. Camden Stukins, 18, a Vero Beach High School senior, was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, shooting or throwing a deadly missile, tampering with or destroying evidence and sale or possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

The drivers of the two trucks Jones hit were not injured, records show.

Jones, a former Vero Beach High School student, died overnight at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital.

Stukins was arrested about 1 ½ hours later around 6 p.m. at his home, arrest reports show.

A detective discovered at least one .9 mm shell casing and a "small amount of marijuana and money" in the crashed silver Toyota.

At the time of the murder, Stukins, then a senior at Vero Beach High School, was working part-time at Penny Hill Subs on Old Dixie Highway, in Vero Beach, records show.

Stukins immediately suspected as shooter

One of the passengers in the Toyota identified Stukins as the person who shot at them after finding his Facebook profile and viewing his pictures, investigators reported.

Deputies located a blue BMW sedan with the tag removed and registered to Stukins at the 4th Place Southwest address, and using a warrant, deputies searched his home and said they found Stukins washing clothes he wore at the gas station, and in his bedroom, they found the BMW's license plate.

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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at  melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Killer of Vero Beach man during a 2020 pot deal ordered to prison