A Sanford man has been convicted of murder for gunning down 18-year-old Isaiah Diaz with an automatic rifle while the victim was parked in a car at an apartment complex in 2022. A Seminole County jury also found THALLAS J. INMAN guilty of trying to shoot and kill two other young men who were in the car with Diaz.
During a six-day trial, prosecutors Stewart Stone, Rich Coln and Donovan Wagner overcame hostile witnesses and made the case that Inman, 23, was guilty of:
- First-degree premeditated murder
- Two counts of attempted first-degree murder
- Shooting into a building or vehicle.
- Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
Sanford police investigators said Inman and two accomplices, armed with assault-style rifles, approached a red Kia Optima parked outside the Hatteras Sound Apartments at about 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2022. Then, they opened fire on the car and its three occupants.
Of the more than 53 shots fired, multiple rounds struck two people in the Kia including Diaz, who suffered “a massive amount of wounds,” Medical Examiner Tracey Corey, M.D., testified. The other shooting victim was hospitalized and survived. The third passenger suffered minor injuries.
Sanford Police appealed to the public for help identifying the gunmen by airing security-camera video of the assailants on Orlando-area TV news stations. Inman’s mother, Tammy Spivey, came forward to say that she recognized her son in the video – specifically his shoes, pants and eyes – and that he had shared other clues to his involvement. But when called to testify at trial Aug. 27, Spivey refused. Circuit Judge Michael Rudisill found her in contempt of court and sentenced her to 179 days in jail.
Inman now faces life in prison. Judge Rudisill scheduled sentencing for October 7.
Police did not positively identify or arrest Inman’s accomplices in the 2022 shooting.
That murder happened within a year of Inman’s release from state prison in December 2021. In 2017, Inman pleaded guilty to attempted murder in Volusia County and was sentenced as a youthful offender to six years in the Department of Corrections, minus time served in jail.
In another ongoing case, Inman is one of 12 defendants indicted for murder and six counts of attempted murder for a drive-by shooting at members of a rapper’s entourage who were riding in a Sprinter van after a concert in Seminole County in January 2023. The shooting killed passenger Princess Tolliver, 31, and injured five other women in the van.
