Alachua County Man Arrested for Arson and Threatening Deputies; ACSO Publishes BWC Footage on Facebook
Avery Tyrone Godbolt, 37, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with arson, property damage, aggravated assault on specified personnel and resisting an officer without violence.
The victim contacted police because Godbolt had broken things in their house.
Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) Deputy Carlton Litzkow reported that when Godbolt exited the house, “he appeared to be nervous and started to take items out of the house."
Litzkow’s report states the following:
“I explained to him that I needed to speak with him. I also noticed that he was placing his hand on his waistband area. I got his attention and told him to stop reaching. At this time, he produced a green pocket knife from his waistband and said that he was not going back to prison and made statements that we had to shoot him.
The defendant continued to make threats, and at times he advanced towards law enforcement. I pointed my issued firearm at the defendant and told him to get on the ground. The defendant failed to comply with all the commands to drop the knife as well as to get on the ground. He then placed the knife on the ground for a brief second. As additional units arrived with less lethal weapons, he grabbed the knife again. He was then hit with a less lethal weapon and ran inside the apartment, barricading himself.
As deputies walked around the apartment, they observed that the defendant armed himself with a large kitchen knife. Multiple attempts were made to get the defendant out of the apartment with no answer. Deputies then observed that the defendant had started a fire inside the apartment. He eventually walked out of the apartment and was taken into custody…. The defendant intentionally and maliciously damaged the walls of the apartment, making several holes on the first-floor walls; the victim estimated the damage at $2,000. He also broke the dining room set, breaking the table and a chair; the victim estimated the damage at $1,200. He also broke a glass display ($150), a portrait ($50), a camel statue ($300), part of the living set ($5,000), and a house window ($1,000). The total amount of damages was $9,700.
The defendant also committed the crime of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on LEO when he produced a pocket knife and took several steps towards two law enforcement deputies to the point that I was in fear for my life and Deputy Brown's life. The defendant also committed the crime of arson when he intentionally started a small fire in the kitchen while barricaded inside, refusing law enforcement commands to exit the apartment…. The defendant claimed all of the damages were a result of a physical altercation between him and the victim.”
In October 2007, Godbolt was found guilty of carrying a concealed weapon, robbery and resisting an officer without violence.
In July 2010, Godbolt was found guilty of felony battery causing great bodily harm.
In September 2016, Godbolt was found guilty of aggravated assault and four counts of violating release conditions.
In March 2023, Godbolt was found guilty of felony battery by a repeat offender for hitting a woman in the face.
Friday afternoon, ACSO published two minutes of body-worn camera footage of the incident on their Facebook account. The footage is heavily cut, but the sequence of events shown corresponds with the sequence of events in the arrest report.
The body camera footage shows Litzkow aiming his gun at Godbolt while saying, “Getting your hand on the freaking knife ain’t gonna help out. You see how you escalated this…. Right now all I know is you might’ve broken some stuff in the house. That’s it, that’s all I wanted to talk to you [about]. When you brought that knife out, that's when it changed.”
ACSO released the following statement on their Facebook account about the incident:
“Deputies responded to a call for service, where a female homeowner was reporting that a male friend vandalized the inside of her residence.
During the call, the incident took a violent turn when the suspect, Avery Godbolt, exited the residence armed with a knife. Godbolt removed the knife from his waistband and advanced toward deputies on the scene, telling them, ‘Kill me.’ Our deputies did a great job creating distance, calling for assistance, and placing a barrier between them and Godbolt.
As the incident progressed, deputies, wanting to preserve human life, utilized what is known as a ‘less lethal’ option, firing two ‘bean bag’ rounds at Godbolt while he held the knife toward his neck. Godbolt immediately fled into the home, where he barricaded himself and started a small fire inside of the living room.
This incident prompted a large law enforcement response, but most importantly, it prompted the response of our Mental Health Co-responder team. The deputy assigned to that team is also a very skilled and trained hostage negotiator. Through excellent communication that de-escalated Godbolt while he was still inside of the home, deputies were able to obtain compliance, which ultimately led to Godbolt’s peaceful surrender.
Moments such as this one emphasize the extreme importance of having specialized units such as the Mental Health Co-responder Team, as well as having deputies who are trained and equipped with ‘less lethal’ use of force options.
Thank you to the Gainesville Police Department for assisting with this incident.”
Godbolt has no bond pending a pretrial detention motion by the State Attorney’s Office.
BWC footage of Godbolt's recent arrest (ACSO)
