Tyran A. Young pleads ‘No Contest’ to multiple felony counts
A 38-year-old Sarasota man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, followed by 20 years of probation, in connection with a Jan. 7, 2019 shooting incident involving Sarasota County firefighters, the Sarasota Police Department has reported.
Tyran Antoine Young, whose address was listed as 3011 Goodrich Ave. when he was arrested in March 2019, pleaded “No Contest” to the following charges, 12th Judicial Circuit Court records show:
• Two counts of aggravated assault on a firefighter; that charge is a second-degree felony.
• Shooting into a vehicle, a second-degree felony.
• Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, another second-degree felony.
• Unlawful use of a two-way communications device, a third-degree felony.
• Misuse of 911, a first-degree misdemeanor.
A Sarasota Police Department news release said Young has a total of 13 convictions. Among them, The Sarasota News Leader learned from a review of 12th Judicial Court records, he was found guilty in January 2014 of trafficking in cocaine and sentenced to 18 months of probation, which he violated, court records show. He ended up being sentenced to time served in jail, as noted in the order signed by Circuit Judge Charles E. Roberts.
Young also has been charged over the years with multiple counts of fraud in obtaining property valued under $20,000, court records say. Additionally, in November 2017, he was charged with grand larceny of a firearm, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, and larceny involving more than $300 but less than $5,000.
Details of the case involving the Fire Department paramedics
Young’s Probable Cause Affidavit regarding the Jan. 7, 2019 case explains that at 3:51 a.m., the county’s Public Safety Communications Center received a call from an automated voice, requesting help at 2932 Goodrich Ave. in Newtown.
The automated voice stated, “Help. I need help,” before providing the Goodrich Avenue address and adding, “Please send help. I fell really hard,” the affidavit continues.
“The message repeated multiple times during the call,” the affidavit adds.
A Sarasota County Fire Department EMS unit was dispatched to the scene, the affidavit says. When it arrived, the paramedics learned that the occupant at that address had not used 911 to call for assistance. Therefore, the affidavit continues, the paramedics “loaded up their equipment” and re-entered the EMS unit. Shortly after they did so, the affidavit says, Young “fired multiple shots from a .380 pistol” at the EMS unit. Two of the bullets struck the driver’s side of the vehicle, the affidavit notes.
A detective called on to assist with the investigation began looking into the source of the 911 call, it continues. After learning that the number was registered to AT&T, the detective contacted a representative of the company at its legal demand center, “who confirmed that the phone was ‘pinging’ to the rear of 3011 Goodrich Avenue.”
The affidavit indicates that the AT&T representative told the detective that the margin for error for the location “was ‘likely better than 25 meters.’ ”
With further assistance from AT&T, the affidavit notes, the detective was able to learn that four pings had “an accuracy better than 25 meters. All four … were within the vicinity of [a] shed,” at the rear of the residence standing at 3011 Goodrich Ave., where Young was living, the affidavit says.
Then the affidavit explains, “Early in this investigation,” Young contacted a Sarasota Police Department detective, “offering information in reference to this case. [Young] accused a juvenile relative of being the perpetrator of the ambulance shooting.”
However, the affidavit continues, detectives determined through interviews with Young that he had “made several false statements about his supposed [eyewitness] account of the shooting.” Moreover, the affidavit notes, “Evidence uncovered during this investigation did not corroborate [Young’s eyewitness account].”
Young also made statements that showed “he had intimate knowledge of the phone, and phone number, used to place the false 911 call,” the affidavit continues.
While still portraying himself as a witness, the affidavit says, Young consented to a search of his shed, behind the home at 3011 Goodrich Ave. The detective who wrote the narrative in the affidavit and a second detective located “a .380 bullet, in plain view, at the foot of [Young’s] bed,” the affidavit adds. DNA analysis linked the bullet to Young, the affidavit says.
After police personnel executed a search warrant at the residence, the affidavit continues, they found “multiple items,” including “a black LG smartphone on [Young’s] bed.” After executing a search warrant on the on the phone, the affidavit says, detectives learned from the phone’s “web history” that Young was “searching Google approximately 30 minutes before the shooting. [Young] “searched for ‘text talk message help me I fell and I cant [sic] move my address is 2932 goodrich avenue Sarasota florida 34234 send help please talk text.”
That message, the affidavit points out, was “very similar to the message which was eventually sent.” Moreover, the affidavit notes, the message referenced the address to which the Fire Department EMS unit was falsely dispatched.
Detectives then learned that Young “was conducting web searches before the shooting,” including one in which he sought “a designer bag for his external [defibrillator]. It should be noted,” the affidavit continues, that Young “wears an external [defibrillator].”
After Young was read his Miranda Rights, the affidavit says, he admitted to owning a chrome .380 pistol, which was the type of weapon used to shoot the EMS unit.
Then, during a canvass of his neighborhood, police personnel “determined that a previous false medical call was made,” which sent an EMS unit to 3009 Goodrich Ave. The call in that case was similar to the call in Young’s case, the affidavit notes, in that it featured an automated, repeating message about a person who had fallen. Detectives later learned that that call was made about 1:55 a.m. on Nov. 19, 2018, the affidavit adds.
Detectives were able to use cell phone tower data to trace that call to the phone Young had when he was arrested in the 2019 case, the affidavit explains.
Further, “It should be noted that 3009 Goodrich Avenue is directly adjacent to 3011 Goodrich Avenue,” where Young was living, the affidavit says. The detectives believe that the earlier incident “was a ‘dry run’ ” for the case they were investigating, the affidavit points out.
The detective who wrote the narrative added that the January 2019 incident occurred one day before Young’s sentencing on an unrelated offense. “The defendant, from the beginning of this investigation, has been attempting to parlay his witness testimony against his juvenile relative (nephew) for a reduced jail sentence,” the affidavit says.
Long delay in resolution of case explained
The Police Department news release about Young’s sentencing points out that his prosecution, “led by Assistant State Attorney William Greiner, was delayed for years by [Young’s] attempts to feign incompetence,” as well as Young’s “self-representation tactics …”
Then the release says, “After multiple hearings and failed delays, Young pleaded no contest to all charges on Aug. 11, 2025. Weeks later, he alleged he had been under duress at the time he entered his pleas and attempted to withdraw them. His motion to withdraw the pleas was denied after testimony and recordings showed he had acted strategically, not under duress.”
The release also notes, “The victims and the juvenile Young attempted to frame testified during the sentencing on Oct. 6, 2025. Afterward Assistant State Attorney Greiner said: “Tyran Young very much seems to think he is smarter than everyone else. However, considering he managed to get himself sentenced to forty years in prison for doing something to avoid serving one year in prison, everyone else is free to think otherwise.”