April 16, 2021

PRESS RELEASE OFFICE OF STATE ATTORNEY GINGER BOWDEN MADDEN FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA

State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden announced on April 15, 2021, Glenda Travaneisha Hamilton was found guilty of Aggravated Battery with Great Bodily Harm and with a Firearm by Discharging a Firearm and Criminal Mischief by a Walton County jury. Sentencing is currently scheduled for June 22, 2021. Hamilton is facing up to 30 years in prison and is subject to a 25 year minimum mandatory prison sentence under Florida’s 10/20/Life law.

On October 16, 2019, the two victims (a male and a female) went to visit a friend who lived on Howlin Road west of DeFuniak Springs. Unbeknown to the victims, the defendant was staying at this home. Hamilton blamed the male victim for damage to her girlfriend’s vehicle that occurred months earlier during a previous altercation. Hamilton demanded the male victim pay her money for the damage. When he refused, she pulled out the handgun and threatened both victims with it. They both again refused to pay. Hamilton then retrieved a dumbbell from the house and threw it into the female victim’s front windshield shattering it. This resulted in an altercation between the female victim and defendant. The male victim intervened in the altercation and was able to wrestle Hamilton’s handgun from her despite receiving multiple blows to his face that resulted injuries. The defendant then retrieved another handgun from a bystander and shot the male victim three times on the left side of his left leg as he was attempting to enter a vehicle to leave. She then stood over the male victim, pointed the gun at his head, and demanded that he apologize and beg for his life. Once he did, Hamilton left the scene. The male victim suffered a fractured femur and was left with multiple scars from his bullet wounds and a surgery to install a rod in his leg.

Once reported by the victims, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office responded both to the scene of the shooting and the hospital to investigate the incident and collect evidence. An interview was conducted by WCSO investigators and Hamilton admitted to damaging the female victim’s vehicle, getting into an altercation with the male victim over her gun, and then shooting him in the leg. Hamilton proceeded to record a series of SnapChat videos boasting about making the male victim bleed during their struggle for her gun and then making him beg for his life after she shot him.

The investigation and arrest was conducted by the Walton County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant State Attorney Matthew Richardson prosecuted the case.