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Friday, March 29, 2024
Generic Crime
Generic Crime

Gainesville Police arrested a local man early Thursday morning after he reportedly tried to enter several apartments armed with a gun.

At about 2:55 a.m. Thursday, Robert L. Robinson, 29, knocked on the door of a College Park apartment, according to a police report.

The resident, a UF history junior, said he stopped washing dishes and looked through the door’s peephole. He said the door was unlocked, but he was afraid to touch it and make a noise.

The resident wished to remain anonymous because he feared retaliation.

At first, he said he thought Robinson was drunk and needed help, but he then suspected the worst and searched for his only weapon: a broken microphone stand.

Robinson eventually left and, looking back, the resident said the situation sunk in.

"I had 4 inches of wood between some dude with a gun," he said.

At about 3 a.m., police responded to a call about someone checking windows and twisting door handles, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email.

An officer walked outside with the resident and they noticed Robinson approaching them from behind.

"We both whirled around and it was the guy," the resident said.

They were a car’s length away until another officer soon arrived and took hold of Robinson, he said.

An officer felt a gun handle while searching for weapons, and Robinson struggled until officers brought him to the ground.

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"There’s seven cops and you’re in between four cop cars, why resist?’" the resident said.

Police later found a .22-caliber revolver, along with a driver’s license and social security card belonging to a 41-year-old man, according to the report.

Robinson said he might need the gun to "take care of business" with his wife’s new lover, according to the report.

In 2011, Robinson was released after almost four years in jail, which he served for three charges of burglary and three charges of grand theft, according to the Florida Department of Corrections’ Offenders Network.

Police arrested Robinson on charges of attempted armed burglary, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, fraud, loitering and resisting an officer.

Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where, as of press time, he remains without bond.

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

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