Wellborn man in custody in Suwannee County on drug charges.
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Authorities say it was Alexis Guzman Gomez who smashed out a side window at the Columbia Courthouse Annex on May 12 by throwing a hammer through it. He also broke a window on a county employee’s car with the hammer. (COURTESY)
Authorities have identified the man who threw a hammer into a window of the Columbia County Tax Collector’s Office earlier this month.
According to a Lake City Police Department release, 24-year-old Alexis Guzman Gomez, of Wellborn, was identified as the suspect following social media posts asking for help in identifying the man, who also broke out the driver’s side door window to an employee’s car around lunchtime May 12.
The Lake City Reporter ran a story about the incident, which is leading to two charges for criminal mischief and throwing a missile into a dwelling/vehicle/building/aircraft against Gomez, in its May 17 edition. In addition to the Reporter posting the story on social media, Tax Collector Kyle Keen also shared the incident on social media along with the LCPD, which had not previously released information about the attack.
Anonymous tips were submitted, which led to Gomez’s identification.
Gomez is currently in custody at the Suwannee County Jail for possession of amphetamine with intent to sell and possession and/or use of drug paraphernalia. He was arrested in Suwannee County on Tuesday.
On May 12, Gomez drove a black car into the drive-through lane at the Columbia County Courthouse Annex before stopping and exiting the vehicle around 11:30 a.m.
Gomez then walked up to an employee’s SUV parked in employee space beside the drive-through lane and smashed the driver’s door window with a long-handled hammer, according to surveillance footage from the Tax Collector’s Office.
He then walked down the drive-through lane and threw the hammer into a side window at the annex, smashing it. The hammer bounced off the building on his first throw, before he picked it up and was successful on his second attempt, the video showed.
According to the LCPD report, both the vehicle damaged and the office window belonged to the same employee at the Tax Collector’s office.