- Kivi J. Ellis was sentenced to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder in the deaths of Shelby Mathis and 3-month-old Gideon Ellis in 2020.
- Ellis was arrested at the scene in Gainesville where two children hid under a bed during the shooting incident that left two dead and one neighbor unharmed.
Kivi J. Ellis was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Shelby Mathis and 3-month-old Gideon Ellis in December 2020.
According to the State Attorney’s Office release sent Thursday, the state entered into a negotiated plea agreement with Ellis’ defense team to resolve the case with the full support of a representative of the surviving victims’ family.
Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge James M. Colaw accepted Ellis’ plea and sentenced him to:
- 50 years in prison for Count 1, second-degree murder, with a 25-year minimum mandatory sentence.
- 30 years in prison for Count 2, second-degree murder, to run concurrently with Count 1.
- 25 years in prison for Count 3, attempted first-degree murder, to run consecutively to Count 1.
Ellis, 32, was ordered to be transferred to the Florida Department of Corrections to serve his sentence.
Ellis was arrested Dec. 4, 2020, following a Gainesville Police Department (GPD) murder investigation at 2911 NE 17th Drive in Gainesville. According to a GPD release, officers confronted the still-armed shooter, Ellis, who then threw his firearm to the side and surrendered.
A subsequent investigation revealed Mathis, deceased on scene with multiple gunshot wounds, and the 3-month-old baby, also deceased with a gunshot wound to the head. A third victim, a nearby neighbor, was also shot at, but not struck. Two other children, ages 3 and 5, were found hiding inside the house underneath a bed.
On Jan. 14, 2021, Assistant State Attorneys Brian Rogers and Pamela Gordon presented the case against Ellis to the Alachua County Fall Term Grand Jury. The grand jury returned a true bill indicting Ellis on two counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of child abuse and resisting arrest without violence.