Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Marshall Scott Avener, 75, was arrested yesterday after police said he pepper-sprayed five adults and tried to grab a child during a confrontation at a pet store that began when he allegedly asked two children if they wanted to pet him.
A Gainesville Police Department officer responded at about 7:50 p.m. on July 8 to Pet Supermarket, 2339 NW 13th Street, where a male victim reported that Avener approached his family with his dog and asked the man’s two children whether they wanted to pet the dog. When the children did not answer, Avener allegedly asked if they wanted to “pet the man instead.” The victim told police he called the question inappropriate and asked Avener to leave them alone.
According to the report, Avener began arguing with the male victim, moved away from the cash register area deeper into the store, and then returned three separate times to continue the argument before allegedly attempting to grab a four-year-old child.
The male victim reportedly shouted that Avener could not touch any children and told him to leave the store. Police said Avener then armed himself with a can of pepper spray and sprayed the male victim in the face, also affecting two store employees who were working near the registers.
Relatives of the four-year-old told the officer they were outside when the male victim ran out of the store, with Avener following behind him. Avener allegedly continued spraying the pepper spray outside, affecting three additional people.
Police said Avener then ran to his vehicle while the male victim followed him. Before driving away from the scene, Avener allegedly sprayed the victim again.
The responding officer noted that the male victim’s head and upper chest were bright red and that his eyes were visibly irritated. One employee had visible irritation on the right arm, and both employees reported a burning sensation in their eyes.
One person outside the store had visible irritation in his face and eyes, and another person outside had visible irritation on her chest and neck. The other person outside had soreness in his lungs from inhaling the pepper spray.
Officers sent out a bulletin for Avener’s car, and several victims and a witness positively identified Avener in separate photo lineups. Two of the people who were sprayed outside the store said they heard Avener ask the male victim’s children if they wanted to “pet the man,” and the four-year-old’s mother said she saw Avener reaching toward her child before the male victim stopped him.
One of the employees told the officer she heard Avener ask the children if they wanted to “pet the man” and added that Avener kept walking away and then going back to re-engage with the male victim three times. She said that after he walked back the third time, he pepper-sprayed the whole store, covering the cash registers, the front doors, and everyone inside with pepper spray.
Officers made contact with Avener at his residence, and post Miranda, he reportedly said some guy tried to attack him, so he pepper-sprayed him. He said he did not know why the male victim was upset with him.
When Avener was asked what led to his use of the pepper spray, he reportedly said he entered the store and saw the children react to his dog, but when he asked them if they wanted to pet it, they did not respond. He said he followed that by asking, “Do you want to pet me?”, which led to the male victim getting angry.
When Avener was asked what he meant by that question, he reportedly said he didn’t know why he asked the children that question. He said the male victim chased him and he pepper-sprayed him outside the store, but he denied spraying inside the store or spraying anybody else.
When asked whether he had walked away from the male victim and then went back to start arguing again, he reportedly admitted to going back to re-engage with the male victim.
Avener reportedly said he never attempted to touch the four-year-old child and everyone was lying.
When asked why he had not called 911 if he was attacked, Avener said he probably should have.
Avener has been charged with aggravated battery causing bodily harm, child abuse without great bodily harm, and four counts of battery. Avener has no local criminal convictions; a child abuse case was opened against him in 2003, but it was dropped less than a month later. Judge William Davis ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
