Two Men Indicted for Killing 15-Year-Old Ka’Ryah Duncan, Injuring Two Others Outside Restaurant in Cocoa
By Space Coast Daily // November 5, 2025
Men indicted on two counts of attempted first-degree murder
BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA, FLORIDA – The Brevard County Grand Jury has indicted two young men for murder for the Oct. 6 shooting of a 15-year-old girl and two companions outside a Cocoa-area restaurant.
The State Attorney’s Office will prosecute Jonterich L. Smith, 21, and Xazavier E. Butler, 20, for first-degree murder with a firearm for the killing of Ka’Ryah Duncan as she sat in a car outside Anchors Seafood & Chicken on Clearlake Road.
Both defendants also were indicted on two counts of attempted first-degree murder while inflicting great bodily harm for shooting and wounding two 18-year-old men from Palm Bay.
The men drove with Duncan to the restaurant where the three were waiting for a food order.
Smith, a Cocoa resident, was arrested Oct. 11 during a traffic stop in Volusia County and remains in the Brevard County Jail with no bond. Butler, from Titusville, remained at large as of Nov. 5
Brevard County Sheriff’s investigators say Smith went to the restaurant for carry-out food and saw the victims, who he knew, in the parking lot.
Smith drove away in a Dodge Durango for a few moments, then returned at about 4:30 p.m. and stopped behind the victims’ white sedan, blocking it in.
Smith and Butler then climbed out the driver’s side of the black SUV with assault rifles while a third, not-yet-identified assailant exited the passenger side with a handgun, investigators say.
The three fired dozens of rounds at the victims, killing Duncan. Security video recorded the attack.
Besides murder and attempted murder, the Grand Jury indicted Smith for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. It indicted Butler for possession of a firearm by a delinquent, based on convictions while he was a juvenile.
