Loved ones of a Florida woman who was fatally shot two years ago came face to face with the gunman this week, Fox 13 reports.
Family members of Savannah Mathis spoke in court Thursday before a judge sentenced 22-year-old Vakarvery Scott for murdering her. Mathis’ mother, LaMaria Smith, said at the hearing that she forgives her daughter’s killer.
“As a Christian, I have to forgive you because I don’t want to walk around with that hate because it’s only going to consume me,” Smith said, according to WTSP-TV. “I want you to know that I signed a life sentence as well when you took my daughter from me.”
According to Fox 13, Smith also said: “I do forgive you because your actions are not gonna stop me from going to heaven and seeing my daughter again, but on the other hand, I will not forget what you did to my daughter for no reason. Justice was served.”
Mathis, a 21-year-old nursing student, was in a vehicle with her sister Nena in Tampa on the evening of December 1, 2021, when Scott shot at them. The women had been driving around the Oakhurst apartment complex on Delaware Avenue because they were checking on Nena’s former boyfriend.
At the trial earlier this month, Scott claimed that he mistakenly believed the occupants of the vehicle the women were in planned to do a drive-by shooting, an experience he had encountered previously. But the jury convicted him of first-degree murder, among other charges.
Authorities say another man, Alfonso Evans, was involved in the shooting. His case is still pending.
“You have no right to be judge, jury, and be my sister’s executioner,” Nena told Scott at Thursday’s hearing, according to Fox 13. Nena had also been injured in the shooting.
Clifford Williams, Mathis’ grandfather, urged Scott to make something out of his life and also expressed forgiveness.
“I told you I forgive you. I said it’s hard but I gotta do it,” Williams said, according to Fox 13.
Scott did not speak during the court proceeding. Following statements by Mathis’ family, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Samantha Ward sentenced him to life in prison.
Since losing her daughter, Smith has worked to address gun violence and is writing a book about her daughter’s life, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“Savannah Mathis will forever be 21,″ Smith said, according to the newspaper. “She was so young and full of life and dreams.”
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[Feature Photo: Savannah Mathis/Police Handout]
