Man killed by ex-girlfriend at The Ridge apartments, police say

A man was found dead with apparent gunshot wounds to his head at The Ridge at Gainesville on Monday — and his ex-girlfriend is accused of his killing, police said.

Jose Ricardo Ortiz III, 26, was found inside a unit he shared with his ex-girlfriend, 24-year-old Katherine Jean Tonner, located at 3717 SW 24th Ave., according to an arrest report filed by Gainesville Police.

The killing marked the second fatality in 10 days to take place at The Ridge. On Feb. 4, a Santa Fe College student ran over a man in a parking lot at the complex.

Tonner is believed to have shot Ortiz in his head with a semiautomatic .45-caliber handgun, and then fled the city, according to the report. The couple had split up about 10 days ago.

One of Tonner’s roommates said he heard three loud bangs from Tonner’s room and then a fire alarm at about noon before he found Ortiz’s body facedown near Tonner’s bed, according to the report. Expended shell casings lay nearby.

At about 12:30 p.m., Tonner drove to her parents’ house elsewhere in Alachua County before dialing 911 to report that she had shot a man whom she loved after he had asked her for money, according to the report. She said she was suicidal.

She said she still had a gun, and the call taker told her to put it in a drawer, according to the report.

She told a responding Alachua County Sheriff’s deputy she had placed the gun in a kitchen drawer.

“I shot him in the head,” she told the deputy, per the report. “I never meant to hurt anyone.”

Deputies brought her to GPD Headquarters for questioning, said GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias in a statement.

Monday night, police arrested Tonner on a charge of first degree premeditated murder. Authorities took her to the Alachua County Jail, where she remains as of press time with no bond. Police are still searching for a motive and investigating the couple’s relationship, Tobias said.

The GPD Forensic Crime Unit and detectives investigated the shooting and closed portions of the street in front of the apartment Monday afternoon.

@merylkornfield

mkornfield@alligator.org