Gainesville’s Ke’Mani Hill, 15, was adjudicated guilty of manslaughter, conspiracy to commit robbery with a firearm and other felonies on Monday after a guilty plea.  

Alachua County Judge Denise Ferrero sentenced Hill to more than 20 years in the Florida Department of Corrections, along with a concurrent 15-year sentence for shooting into an occupied vehicle.  

The sentencing comes almost exactly two years after Gainesville police deputies responded to calls of a shooting at the Tiger Bay Apartments on April 19, 2024. Deputies found Wilber Perez, 25, dead at the scene and later concluded that the incident had been a botched robbery attempt on the part of Hill, who was 13 at the time. 

Another teen, Zion Mykell James, was also arrested and charged.  

Gloria Perez, the mother of Wilber Perez, released a victim statement in connection with the sentencing. She emphasized his love for others and role as a father of three children. 

“He was my heart walking outside of my body. He was talented, intelligent, and gifted with his hands,” Gloria Perez said in the statement.  

She said holidays are difficult and that the crime fractured the family.  

“Wilber does not get another chance at life,” Gloria Perez said. “His children do not get another childhood with their father. I am serving a life sentence of grief.”