A fight between two men in southeast Gainesville Tuesday night ended with one man in the hospital and the other in jail.
Gainesville Police arrested Dominic Gillins, 25, of Gainesville, on attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon charges, according to a GPD police report.
At about 9:40 p.m., the victim, Ronald Reginald Whitford, went to Gillins’ uncle’s house at 441 SE 15th Street, said GPD Spokesman Officer Ben Tobias, where he started arguing with Gillins and his uncle.
The argument started at about 9:40 p.m., when Whitford went to pick up his girlfriend at Gillins’ uncle’s house. The fight escalated when Gillins grabbed a handgun and shot Whitford in the head, Tobias said.
The bullet grazed the top of Whitford’s head, Tobias said. He was later taken to Shands at UF for treatment.
When officers arrived, they surrounded the house and closed off Southeast 15th Street. Gillins was not at the house, but he was later brought back to the scene and surrendered to officers, Tobias said.
Whitford’s mother, Dale Whitford, said she was happy about Gillins’ arrest.
“I could’ve been planning my child’s funeral today instead of sitting with him eating dinner,” she said.
Gillins was booked into the Alachua County Jail at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, where he remained that evening on a $750,000 bond.
Contact Kathryn Varn at kvarn@alligator.org.
