TYLER, Texas — Editor's Note: The attached video was made in June 2021.
A Jacksonville man was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month for his involvement in a shooting that killed a woman at a Tyler daiquiri shop last year.
Dycorrian Wayne Lofton, 24, pleaded guilty Dec. 9 to an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge in the 114th District Court, according to Smith County Jail records.
Lofton was then sentenced to three years in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison, records show.
He was initially arrested for murder in connection with the June 25, 2021 shooting along with Jaderick Willis, also of Jacksonville, for the death of Tylsha Brown, 46, of Katy, who was out celebrating her birthday.
The shooting began when a fight broke out in the parking lot of New Orleans Flavors Daiquiris in Tyler. Brown was shot and killed while inside the restaurant.
Lofton was later indicted or formally charged with the lesser charge of aggravated assault, while Willis was indicted on murder.
After the shooting, police investigators gathered evidence and named Lofton as a suspect and later Willis. Both turned themselves in to authorities.
Willis was also injured during the shooting and released after treatment at the hospital. After he spoke to the police, officers determined Willis as a suspect in the shooting.
An arrest affidavit states a tip from Smith County Crime Stoppers indicated Lofton and another person were involved in the shooting death. A witness of the shooting said he recognized Lofton and another person as two of the people involved. The witness said he saw Lofton retrieve his gun and say that “they were killers,” and he saw Lofton shooting a handgun toward the front of New Orleans Flavors.
Willis remains in the Smith County Jail on a $750,000 bond. He currently doesn't have a hearing or trial set.
Jalen Cavitt, of Alabama, was also injured because of the shooting but was later released from the hospital.