A Key West man who was facing trial for the 2021 shooting death of 19-year-old Key Wester Jossue Emmanuel Gomez on Tuesday accepted a 30-year plea deal.
Online court records indicate the plea was accepted at 3 p.m. Tuesday, but the accompanying documentation had not been uploaded Tuesday evening.
Angel Font, now 23, was headed to trial next month for shooting Gomez in a car near the intersection of Amelia and Howe streets on June 22, 2021.
Two other suspects, Daino Gaines and Cortez Leatherwood, had pleaded guilty in April 2023 and agreed to testify against Font in return for 12-year prison sentences.
Font has been awaiting trial at the Monroe County Detention Center since his 2021 arrest, after he had fled the Florida Keys, cut his hair and was found two weeks later in Merritt Island, Florida in Brevard County.
The shooting was apparently the result of a robbery gone wrong.
Key West police reports indicate that in the early-morning hours of June 22, 2021, the three suspects planned to order four ounces of marjuana from the victim, Gomez, and then rob him at gunpoint.
When Gomez arrived for the deal, he allegedly got in a car with Font while the other two suspects hid nearby. After seeing the car do a U-turn, the other suspects told police they heard a gunshot and then saw Font running away from the car.
Gomez was airlifted to Miami, where he died of his wounds.
Font was found and arrested by U.S. marshals on July 2, 2021. Gaines and Leatherwood were arrested about two weeks later, following more investigation and their cooperation with police.
