Speed cameras installed at two Alachua County school zone locations — near Chiles Elementary and along Southwest 75th Street near Wiles Elementary and Kanapaha Middle School — logged more than 2,400 violations in their first week after launching April 24. On the opening day alone, the four cameras collectively caught 440 violations, with drivers averaging 37 mph through the zones. The program is currently in a warning phase, and fines of several hundred dollars are set to begin being issued on May 24.
Sources: WCJB TV20
An 18-year-old Gainesville man, identified as a documented gang member, received a two-year federal prison sentence for possessing a pistol with its serial number removed. Officers discovered the weapon — loaded with an extended 22-round magazine — when the man attempted to flee law enforcement at a local apartment complex. Federal prosecutors linked the arrest to gang violence in the area.
Sources: Mainstreet Daily News · WCJB TV20
Gainesville police are investigating a homicide that occurred late Friday night in the Phoenix neighborhood after officers were called to a home where gunshots were reported. A man with gunshot wounds was transported to a nearby hospital by a private party and later died from his injuries. Authorities are asking anyone with information about the incident to come forward.
Sources: Mainstreet Daily News · WCJB TV20
Kaylin Madonia, 24, who had been scheduled to testify in the case surrounding her grandmother Martina Lundy’s disappearance, was found dead over the weekend; no cause of death has been released. Madonia had originally reported Lundy missing in Columbia County in 2024 and had been actively assisting efforts to resolve the case. Aaron Hokanson, Lundy’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, was arrested earlier this year and indicted on a first-degree murder charge, even though Lundy’s body has not been recovered.
Sources: WCJB TV20
Christian David Vargas, 22, did not show up Monday for his scheduled arraignment in Alachua County’s Eighth Judicial Circuit Court. He faces a second-degree felony charge of lewd or lascivious battery involving a victim between the ages of 12 and 16.
Sources: WUFT News
Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 17-year-old Saturday night after he allegedly opened fire on others following a dispute that began at a gas station on Southwest Archer Road. The victims left the Chevron station but were followed by the suspects, and the teenager discharged a firearm from a vehicle as they turned into a residential neighborhood near 129th Street — no one was hit. The juvenile was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm from a vehicle within 1,000 feet of another person, and a second occupant of the vehicle faces pending charges.
Sources: WCJB TV20
Community members gathered at Bo Diddley Plaza to honor 3-year-old Paisley Brown, who died in March in a case authorities say involved abuse and neglect. Jeroen Jarrel Combs, the boyfriend of Paisley’s mother, was indicted last month on charges including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and capital sexual battery of a child under 12, while her mother faces two counts of felony child neglect. Protest organizers say the case exposes failures in Florida’s child welfare system, including concerns about the Department of Children and Families outsourcing cases to third-party companies.
Sources: WCJB TV20
