An Ocala man was arrested early Sunday morning after he allegedly shot a woman in the abdomen near the University of Florida campus.
According to an arrest report, Fabian Marcel Rivera, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder and resisting officers without violence.
Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers responded to the shooting around 3:34 a.m. in the 1700 block of NW 1st Avenue where they discovered a female victim on the sidewalk who had been shot in the abdomen. Emergency responders transported the victim to a local hospital.
Rivera and two other people on scene claimed to be acquaintances of the victim. The first witness said he was sitting in the driver’s seat of his parked vehicle and Rivera was in the front passenger seat with the victim standing outside the open driver’s door.
According to the report, the first witness said he kept a Glock 26 handgun in the center console of his vehicle and, while he was looking at his phone, he heard a loud bang and saw the victim on the ground. When he turned to the right, he saw Rivera holding the gun. The first witness then got out of the vehicle to assist the victim.
A second witness was sitting in another parked vehicle across the street when he heard the gunshot and heard the victim scream. He said he ran across the street, saw the victim bleeding from the abdomen, removed his shirt and used it to apply pressure on the wound.
In video surveillance footage, officers saw Rivera allegedly speaking with the victim. Rivera took a drink from a can and then the victim reached into the vehicle and grabbed a drink can. The video then reportedly showed Rivera looking at the center console, looking back up at the victim holding the can, Rivera extending his right arm, pointing it at the victim and firing once.
Rivera fled the scene and was later apprehended by GPD officers. He is being held on a $10,000 bond in the Alachua County Jail.