Gulfport man pleads guilty to second-degree murder of 16-year-old
GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV)- A Gulfport man will spend 35 years in prison for the 2024 shooting death of a 16-year-old.
Twenty-one-year-old Elijah Eckford pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and shooting into a dwelling.
Gulfport police found 16-year-old Zaelyn Braxton shot multiple times at a home on Kenwood Drive in February 2024.
Prosecutors say Eckford admitted he went to the home intending to steal a gun Braxton had displayed on social media, and opened fired after hearing a gunshot.
Eckford was sentenced to 25 years for the murder charge and another ten years for shooting into the home.
The sentences will run consecutively to each other.
