Shots Fired at Woodland Park Apartments; One Arrested
Updated April 24 | Young has now been additionally charged with evidence tampering and grand theft of a firearm after Cpl. Casey Walsh located the gun he allegedly dropped while running using the same K-9 that attacked a homeless woman last month.
Rodricas Jovan Young was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning and booked on charges of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, firing a weapon into an occupied dwelling, discharging a firearm in public, and resisting an officer without violence after he allegedly fired a handgun into a building.
Young was additionally booked on two more charges for violating his probation in a 2020 case where he ran from an Alachua County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) officer after he conducted a traffic stop due to him not having a valid license or registration.
No reports indicate anyone was injured or killed in this shooting.
The arrest report, written by Gainesville Police Department officer Andrew Milman, states he was conducting surveillance inside a patrol vehicle at Woodland Park Apartments when he heard gunshots and saw someone running through a breezeway behind his vehicle.
Milman reported he heard shots as the suspect was running and that the he “appeared like [he] had a handgun in his hand and was chasing after an unknown person shooting at them.” Milman said he lost sight of the suspect as he ran through the breezeway.
Milman reported that shortly after he lost sight of the suspect, he witnessed a vehicle exiting Woodland Park Apartments at a high rate of speed. Milman stated he attempted to conduct a traffic stop, and the vehicle drove four blocks before pulling over.
After the vehicle stopped, Milman reportedly saw Young exit the front passenger seat of the vehicle and run away. A perimeter was established around the area, and a K-9 unit was used to track Young, leading to his detainment.
At the scene of the shooting, the officers located a single shell casing in the breezeway Young was allegedly running into. They also found projectile impacts inside buildings around the apartment complex.
Milman stated that once Young was in custody, “a presumptive gunshot residue kit was completed on [Young], which was positive for [gunshot residue."]
Young admitted to Milman that he ran because he had outstanding warrants, likely referring to his Hillsborough County warrants for operating a vehicle without a valid license or registration and fleeing an officer without violence. However, he denied being at Woodland Park Apartments. He said he was picked up at a gas station.
Milman wrote, “I know this to be a lie because I observed the vehicle inside of the complex leaving the scene of the shooting just prior to the traffic stop.”
Milman said that Young was a convicted felon out of Alachua County for homicide. Young is a convicted felon; however, Milman cited a court case from 2002 in which Young was guilty adjunct after pleading nolo contendere to aggravated battery with possession of a firearm, not homicide.
Milman listed Young's address at Carver Gardens Apartments in the arrest report; however, Young listed himself as homeless in Tampa in the first appearance order.
No witnesses were listed on the arrest report.
Officer Milman has previously faced general order violations for his actions after Terrell Bradley’s maiming by a K-9 in 2022 and additionally made an unlawful arrest at the start of the year.
Young's arrest involving a K-9 comes one month after an incident where a homeless woman, mistakenly identified as a domestic battery suspect, was hospitalized after being subjected to a K-9 attack.
