Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Six Ocala residents, including three juveniles, were arrested Sunday after Gainesville police responded to reports of masked, armed individuals at the Carver Gardens apartment complex. Police identified the adults as Zarek Roi Clark, 19; Bernard Lorenzo Little Jr., 19; and Luisel Lopez-Pagan, 18. The juveniles arrested were Jyzekiel Gillans, 16; Jaheim Sylvain, 15; and Jaylen Jermaine Little, 17.
According to the arrest report, officers have recently been called to Carver Gardens, located at 1101 SE 15th Street, on “numerous” reports involving armed disturbances, including incidents described as people fighting while carrying weapons.
The latest incident was reported at about 2:18 p.m. on July 20, when multiple callers told police that a group was speeding through the apartment complex in a gray Dodge Durango with dark window tint. Witnesses said several people exited the SUV wearing masks and carrying firearms, creating fear and alarm among residents.
Gainesville Police Department officers who responded located the Durango and reported that its license plate had been removed, which they said appeared to be an effort to conceal the vehicle’s registration information. Officers wrote that the missing tag suggested the group was not at the complex for a lawful purpose.
Police initiated a traffic stop and said several occupants of the vehicle refused to provide their names or otherwise identify themselves.
Surveillance video from Carver Gardens reportedly captured the Durango entering the complex and traveling east near buildings 9 and 10. The SUV then stopped, and an unidentified Black male approached the passenger-side window and appeared to hand something to the passenger before running away. The Durango then turned around and backed into the roadway between buildings 4 and 5, where two Black males wearing black hoodies and black shorts got out and chased the unidentified male toward building 3.
The arrest report states that the unidentified male ran up a stairwell and entered an apartment. Four additional Black males then got out of the Durango and walked toward building 3 before regrouping near the SUV and moving toward building 5. Police said several members of the group appeared to be clutching their waistbands in a way officers associated with concealing firearms.
The group appears to get into an argument with several people outside an apartment before getting back into the Durango and leaving the complex. All of the suspects were either wearing masks or had a hoodie pulled over their head to conceal their faces.
During the traffic stop, officers reportedly smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle, and an Alachua County Sheriff’s Office K-9 team responded and conducted a sniff, resulting in an alert for illegal substances.
A search of the vehicle reportedly produced a marijuana “blunt” and a stolen pistol that was concealed under the third row of seats. Officers noted that this “confirmed… that the group manifestly endeavored to conceal the object (firearm) upon fleeing Carver Gardens.”
A witness reportedly identified Gillans as having a pistol, and he has been charged with aggravated assault.
Post Miranda, Clark reportedly said he was at Carver Gardens to help intimidate the person who previously attacked one of the people in the Durango. He admitted that he had no lawful reason to be at the complex and admitted to wearing a mask during the incident.
Clark, who told Court Services he is a Bethune-Cookman University student, has been charged with loitering/prowling. He has no criminal history, and Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $45,000.
Post Miranda, Little reportedly said he drove the group to Carver Gardens to drop off Gillans, who was beaten up a few days ago by a grown man, so he was staying with Little for protection. Little said that when they brought Gillans back, they saw the man who had battered him and decided to scare him. Little confirmed that the group put on their masks, got out of the Durango, and went to the building where the man was located. He said none of them had firearms during the incident. He said he owned the Durango, but he wouldn’t say how the stolen firearm got into the vehicle or who had possessed the firearm. When the officer told him the occupants of the rear seat could be charged for possession of the firearm, he reportedly said he would take the charge. He said they were initially just trying to scare the man who had attacked Gillans, but they “were going whichever direction the male went with the confrontation.”
The officer noted that Little, as one of the three adults in the Durango, could have tried to stop the juveniles from committing loitering/prowling and aggravated assault, but instead he decided to help them by driving them to Carver Gardens and putting on a mask with them.
Little has been charged with loitering/prowling and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His criminal history was not posted because one of the charges involves a minor; Judge Miller-Jones set bail at $65,000.
Post Miranda, Lopez-Pagan reportedly said they went to Carver Gardens “to see what was going on” regarding a previous incident; he said they were not going to harm anyone and were just there to drop off his friend, who lived there. He later reportedly said he didn’t know anything at all about the incident, and then he changed his story again and said the group went to the complex with the intention of fighting.
Lopez-Pagan has been charged with loitering/prowling. He has no criminal history, and Judge Miller-Jones set bail at $45,000.
The charges for the other juveniles are not public.
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.
