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Thursday, March 28, 2024
Generic Crime
Generic Crime

Gainesville Police arrested a local man Wednesday afternoon after he reportedly shot at someone while his girlfriend and three children sat just a few feet away.

About 12:10 p.m. Wednesday, Rafael R. Robinson, 29, started fighting with a man in the 1700 block of SW 42nd St. for an unknown reason, according to a police report.

They stopped fighting after the man punched Robinson, opening a cut above his left eye, according to the report.

Robinson then reportedly grabbed a handgun from his girlfriend’s car — with her and the children inside — and fired several shots at the man, missing each time, before he ran away.

Police soon found Robinson’s girlfriend picking him up less than half a mile from the Kangaroo Express on Southwest 20th Avenue, GPD spokesman Ben Tobias wrote in an email.

The girlfriend reportedly told police she put the gun — later identified as stolen — in her son’s backpack before dropping it off at their Mill Run apartment and then meeting Robinson.

She will likely face charges of being an accessory to the crime, Tobias said.

Police arrested Robinson on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft of a firearm and attempted homicide, along with three charges of child abuse.

Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where, as of press time, he remains in lieu of a $900,000 bond.

Contact Giuseppe Sabella at gsabella@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @gsabella

Rafael R. Robinson

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