Local authorities arrested a fugitive hiding in a house near a Gainesville elementary school Friday afternoon.
Green Cove Springs Police Officer Kimberly Robinson announced authorities had taken Victor Lamar Cruger, 25, into custody after negotiations with a SWAT team. Cruger is a suspect in the fatal shooting of Ernestine Griner Hines, 59, early Sunday morning in Green Cove Springs, a city about an hour northeast of Gainesville.
Robinson said the police department received a tip that Cruger, who has been eluding police since the shooting, was at an acquaintance’s house on Southeast Seventh Avenue, across from Joseph Williams Elementary School.
The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force notified local authorities Friday morning. Williams Elementary and nearby Abraham Lincoln Middle School were both on lockdown until just before 2:25 p.m., according to Gainesville Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Tscharna Senn.
Cruger hid in the attic and authorities searched the house with a robot before he eventually surrendered, said Sgt. Scott Ulrich of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.
Ifeyiek Akanni, 29, lives in the home with Cruger’s 9-month-old son and a 2-year-old girl, according to her sister Sasha Williams.
Williams, 23, said she was pulled over and questioned by a marshal on Waldo Road after leaving the house for work.
She drove back to the neighborhood and claimed to receive threats from neighbors for associating with Cruger.
Akanni said she is four months into a high-risk pregnancy with Cruger’s child and that she didn’t know about the murder accusation until authorities arrived.
She said Cruger was in Gainesville to visit her and the children.
Akanni said she left the house with her hands in the air after the home’s power was shut off and that Cruger stayed behind in fear of being harmed.
“I didn’t know if they were fixing to kill him," Williams said. "I’d be scared too."
Dimitrea McCloud, Cruger’s mother, arrived to the house after he surrendered.
“They had him labeled as a cold-blooded murder," McCloud, 40, said. "So my worst fear was – off of what they had said – that someone would harm and kill my son. He surrendered himself, so that’s why I give honor and praises to god.”
Police have been searching for Cruger since he reportedly fled the Green Cove Springs scene with a gun.
“Any time that the officers are safe and the suspect is apprehended without incident," Robinson said, "it’s a good day."
This is a developing story, check back throughout the day for updates.
An Alachua County Sheriff's Office police car is stationed outside Joseph Williams Elementary School Aug. 28, 2015.
Deputies from the Alachua County Sheriff's Office at the scene on Aug. 28, 2015.
Pictured is Ifeyiek Akanni's room in her home on Southeast Seventh Avenue. Fugitive Victor Lamar Cruger, who is a suspect in the murder of Ernestine Griner Hines in Green Cove Springs — a city about an hour northeast of Gainesville — and hid in the house, was arrested. Aug. 28, 2015.
Pictured is the opening to the attic in Ifeyiek Akanni's home, where fugitive Victor Lamar Cruger reportedly hid while authorites searched the house Aug. 28, 2015.
