Teenager makes deal in connection with 2021 North Port shooting

A teenager accused of killing an 18-year-old North Port teen in a 2021 drive-by shooting on South Biscayne Drive has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter with a weapon and pleaded no contest, according to court records.

Navarius Mason, 18, is expected to be sentenced in November after agreeing to a plea deal in early August, more than three years after the shooting that killed Micah Dankowitz. The maximum possible sentence is 30 years in prison, according to court records.

On June 18, 2021, officers responded to a shooting near Porto Chico Avenue at South Biscayne Drive, where they found Dankowitz lying on the ground with a gunshot wound. He later died at a local hospital.