Inset left: Christian Ketchup (Escambia County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Tierra Binion (Obituary). Background: The bar where Ketchup shot and killed Binion in Pensacola, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida man faces substantial prison time for killing a woman in the parking lot of a sports bar by shooting her 10 times in the back.
On Thursday, Christian Ketchup, 27, was convicted by a jury in Escambia County on one count of murder in the second degree.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the underlying incident took the life of Tierra Binion, 25, a mother of twins. The defendant’s factual culpability for the shooting was never in doubt – but he claimed self-defense as part of a fight that night.
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“The defense said this defendant was saying, ‘Hey, let’s break it up, let’s not fight’ — he’s a peacekeeper,” Chief Assistant State Attorney Bridgette Jensen told the jury, according to a courtroom report by the Pensacola News Journal. “You know what, ladies and gentlemen, maybe that’s the way he started, but he ended up a murderer.”
On Aug. 23, 2023, a fight broke out inside the Mugs & Jugs on Scenic Highway in Pensacola. Later, the fight spilled out into the parking lot of the sports bar and so-called “package” store where patrons can drink on-site or purchase containers of alcohol to go in a drive-thru.
Initially, the fight was between Binion and Ketchup’s girlfriend, Rachel DeRise, 25. Then, at some point, the man intervened.
DeRise and Binion were described as “mutually combatant” by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Eventually, Ketchup launched himself toward Binion – punching her and knocking her down.
DeRise then took the opportunity to repeatedly punch the victim while she was down and unconscious. In September 2024, DeRise pleaded guilty to a lone count of misdemeanor battery for the attack. The girlfriend was sentenced to 60 days in county jail followed by a year on probation.
The man, however, went a different route.
Ketchup took out his weapon and fired. And fired, and fired, and fired.
Investigators found at least 20 shell casings near Binion’s body and another five casings in another area of the parking lot, according to court documents obtained by Pensacola-based ABC affiliate WEAR.
Ketchup then called 911 and identified himself as the shooter.
“I f–ed up,” the since-convicted man told the deputies who arrived at the bar. “I’m not a f–ing killer. I don’t do that. That’s not me.”
Investigators seized a Springfield Armory handgun from the immediate area; meanwhile, a witness discovered a SIG Sauer P365 semi-automatic pistol in the parking lot and gave it to a bartender.
The defense, for its part, argued Ketchup believed Binion herself was armed that night because she had earlier used the phrase “my gun” – and because the bar’s clientele generally packed heat.
The state rubbished that logic.
“It was not reasonable that night for Christian Ketchup to show up at the bar with a gun,” Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney Trey Myers told jurors during closing arguments. “It was not reasonable for Christian Ketchup to consume alcohol while in possession of a gun. It was not reasonable for him to insert himself into a fight that did not concern him. It was not reasonable for him to lose his cool when his drunken girlfriend got knocked down being too close to a fight. It was not reasonable for him to punch a 5-foot, 5-inch female in the face twice, all because of a cat fight.”
The state’s oratorical coup de grace referenced the literal death blows: The prosecutor went on to say it was not reasonable for Ketchup to “shoot an unarmed lady in the back 10 times.”
In the end, the jury agreed with the state.
Ketchup’s sentencing hearing is slated for Nov. 19. He faces the possibility of up to life in prison.
