Kaitlin Deglman’s birthday celebration went out with a bang.
The 19-year-old UF animal science sophomore was celebrating her upcoming birthday Saturday night at Club Envy when a gunshot was fired inside.
Gainesville Police arrested 25-year-old Rodney Sheffield after they said he battered a bar patron that night, but it is unknown who fired the gunshot that followed the fight, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email. No one was injured.
At about 1:40 a.m., Deglman was up on stage dancing with friends when she said she heard a loud popping noise.
Suddenly, she said, everyone was yelling, and bouncers were pushing people off the stage. Deglman said she looked over to her left and saw an officer pointing a gun.
“At that point I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh. That was a gunshot,’” she said.
An officer in the club noticed Sheffield fighting with a bar patron. The shot was fired while the officer attempted to break up the scuffle, Tobias said. The officer held Sheffield, the other patron and several bystanders at gunpoint while waiting for backup because he didn’t know where the shot came from.
Another fight broke out behind the officer and Sheffield used it as a diversion to run away, Tobias said. A lieutenant called for backup to handle the chaos. Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies and University Police soon arrived to help.
Responding officers captured Sheffield outside, Tobias said. An officer found a 9 mm handgun near the scene of the original fight, and police noticed a bullet hole in a nearby baseboard. However, officers don’t know who the gun belonged to.
At about 2 a.m., officials sent a UF Alert to students, faculty and staff.
Sinaya Harding, a UF animal science and anthropology junior, said she left right before the shot was fired. She said she felt “weird vibes” at the club that night.
“You could tell that a lot of people there were not students at all,” the 20-year-old said. “After a while, we weren’t really feeling it anymore.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 2/24/2014 under the headline "Gunshot fired at Midtown"]
