Three Ocala residents were arrested in connection to a deadly shooting on Easter Sunday at T.B. McPherson Park in Southeast Gainesville.
Gabriel Frazier Jr., 20, Jarrett Jones, 19, and Kaniel Edwards, 21, were arrested on felony murder charges after a four-month search for those responsible for the fatal shooting.
Frazier, a convicted Florida felon, and Edwards were booked into the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office at 8:12 a.m. Monday, according to the office’s booking log.
During a press briefing, Gainesville Chief of Police Nelson Moya called this case a “special interest to our city, not only because the incident happened in a public location with so many people impacted, but also because the victim, in this case, was completely innocent.”
Ontaria Baisden, a 20-year-old Gainesville resident, was killed in a gang-related shooting after an Easter egg hunt this year.
Two others who were wounded were released from the hospital.
During an April 19 press conference at the police station, Moya addressed around 30 people. There, he said the three people arrested “are part of opposing documented gangs in Marion County [and] came into our community looking for each other.”
Two of the three suspects have since confessed to Baisden’s murder, according to Moya. The chief declined to comment on specific details related to the suspects.
All three individuals are being held at the Marion County Jail.
Alachua County filed first-degree murder charges against Edwards on Aug. 13 and second-degree murder charges against Frazier and Jones on Aug. 14 and Aug. 15, respectively, court records show. Of the three, only Jones was arrested by Gainesville police. The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office filed the other charges.
Arrest reports for all three are sealed, and the police department did not immediately respond to The Alligator’s request for the documents.
Chief Moya said the arrest was “bittersweet” as the community continues to grieve Baisden. “It’s hard to celebrate,” he said.
The case has been handed off to the state attorney’s office for prosecution so “these individuals never see the light of day,” Moya said.
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org
