GPD finds suspected gun in Woodland Park shooting

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Rodricas Javon Young, 43, who was arrested yesterday for shooting into buildings at Woodland Park , has now been charged with grand theft of a firearm and tampering with evidence after a Gainesville Police Department (GPD) K-9 team found a gun they believe Young threw away as he ran from officers; the gun had been reported stolen from Lake City.

After Young was arrested, a GPD K-9 team went to the area of 514 SE 13th Street to try to find the gun used in the shooting. A citizen had called 911 to report finding a 9mm magazine in his backyard; the citizen also reportedly had surveillance video of a person in his yard near the time of the shooting. The video reportedly showed Young dropping a firearm and picking it back up before continuing to run southbound.

The GPD K-9 team searched the area, and the K-9 alerted to a patch of bushes in the 500 block of SE 13th Street. An officer saw a firearm in the shrubbery and photographed and collected the gun, a Taurus 9mm that had been reported stolen out of Lake City. The magazine found by the citizen appeared to be a match to the firearm, and the ammunition in the firearm was the same type as the ammunition in the magazine.

Officers involved in Young’s arrest reportedly confirmed that the firearm was found on Young’s path as he fled from the apartment complex.

Young was originally charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling, discharging a firearm in public, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and violation of probation. He has now been charged with grand theft of a firearm and tampering with evidence.

Young, who is described as a homeless Tampa resident in court documents, is on probation and was also arrested on a warrant for violating probation in a 2020 case out of Alachua County. He is a Violent Felony Offender of Special Concern who has 23 felony convictions (three violent) and eight misdemeanor convictions (one violent). He has served three state prison sentences, with his most recent release in 2017. He is on probation and has an active felony warrant out of Hillsborough County for driving without a valid license, operating an unregistered vehicle, fleeing, and resisting an officer without violence.

Yesterday, Judge Thomas Jaworski ordered him held without bond for violating probation and set bail at $270,000 on the new charges; today Judge Jaworski added $35,000 bond.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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