A Hawthorne man was arrested Thursday for his indirect role in a shooting at the Southwest Parking Garage in May.
Ny’trell Perry, 23, is being charged with aggravated battery using a deadly weapon in connection with the shooting at the Southwest Parking Garage located at 105 SW 3rd St., according to court records. Perry was arrested and booked into the Alachua County Jail Thursday at 2:48 p.m, and later released Monday at 1:14 a.m. He was held on a $50,000 bond.
Michael Reed Jr., a graduate of Hawthorne High School, was shot and killed. Police say Micah Sexton, a 24-year-old Summerfield resident, shot the bullet that killed Reed Jr., but his carrying concealed weapon charge was dropped.
Sexton was aiming for Perry, police said, acting in self-defense, but he accidentally hit Reed, killing him, according to court records.
At 1:30 a.m. on May 1, Perry, Reed and two of their friends from Hawthorne parked on the second level of the Southwest Parking Garage.
Later on, Sexton and three of his friends from Ocala arrived at the garage, ran into Perry and his friends and got into a verbal argument with them, court records show.
When Sexton and his group went back to their car, still in the garage, to smoke cigarettes, one of Sexton’s friends once again yelled back and forth with the group from Hawthorne, according to the court documents.
Fearing the argument might escalate, Sexton grabbed his gun from his friend’s front passenger seat. He then hid the gun in his right front pocket and continued to smoke his cigarette outside of the car, court documents show.
Reed had gone to another floor of the parking garage, but one of his friends called him back down to the second level when the two groups were yelling at each other, according to court records.
Upon Reed’s arrival back to the second level, Reed and his friends began to walk toward Sexton and his friends. Video surveillance shows Perry with his left hand hovering over his left hip and Sexton putting his hands up, appearing empty-handed.
Moments later, one of Reed’s friends from Hawthorne, Marvin King, hit one of Sexton’s friends in the face, and a fight broke out between the two groups.
Perry then raised his left hand holding a loaded gun, swung it toward Sexton in an attempt to hit him with it. While swinging his arm forward, Perry’s gun accidentally fired, the bullet hitting a wall in the parking garage directly behind Sexton.
Surveillance footage also showed Reed picking up one of Sexton’s friends — the same one King hit in the face — and slamming him on the concrete, court records show. Reed landed on top of him and continued to fight him.
After hearing the gunshot, Sexton got his gun out of his pocket, according to court records. While Sexton scanned the area to see where the gunshot came from, Perry — standing behind Reed who was still on the ground fighting — saw the gun in Sexton’s hand.
Perry took his gun back out and pulled the trigger, attempting to shoot Sexton, when Sexton fired back at Perry in self-defense, according to court records.
The bullet didn’t hit Perry, though. It hit Reed — still on the floor fighting one of Sexton’s friends. Attempting to run away, Reed stood up but collapsed on the floor where he died from his fatal gunshot wound, court records show.
Both Perry and Sexton ran and took cover from one another.
Perry eventually fled, running past his friend, Reed, as he died. Perry jumped to the first floor of the parking garage where he met two of his other friends and began running. Perry didn’t tell either of them that he had a gun on him, that he shot it or that he saw Reed dying, according to court records. When asked where Reed was, Perry told them he was still upstairs.
Perry later told police he grabbed his gun from the center console of his car when he believed the yelling back and forth between the groups was becoming tense. He also said that he intended to swing his gun at Sexton to strike him with it, but he didn’t intentionally fire the gun. It accidentally went off, he said.
Perry acknowledged he saw Reed face down on the concrete but didn’t stop or turn back to help him. He also didn’t call for help for Reed.
Sexton’s charge of carrying a concealed weapon was dropped Oct. 18.
Perry’s arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 10 at 9 a.m.
Contact Lily Kino at lkino@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @lily_kino.
Lily is a third-year journalism major with a concentration in environmental science covering criminal justice for The Alligator. Last semester, she served as the Santa Fe reporter. When she's not writing, you can find Lily on a nature walk, eating Domino's Pizza or spending time with her friends.
