Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Xzavier Taylor Hawkins, 20, was apprehended yesterday on charges of kidnapping after reportedly coercing a friend to assist him in escaping the location of a shooting incident.

Click here to read about the arrest of Kelvin Baker, 18, for attempted homicide.

Around 10:45 p.m. on July 2, authorities received a 911 call from a victim claiming to have been shot. The call enabled police to track his phone, leading Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers to find the victim in the 1100 block of NE 24th Street. The victim, who had sustained a gunshot wound to the shoulder, received medical assistance from the officers until EMS arrived on the scene. The victim stated that Kelvin Baker, an acquaintance of many years, was the shooter, though he was uncertain about the motive behind the act.

According to a Gainesville Police Detective, officers discovered that another individual present at the site had commandeered a third person’s vehicle and used it to flee, forcing the driver to escape the scene at gunpoint.

The detective reported that Baker, Hawkins, and the victim had been hanging out at Baker’s home on July 2 and then went over to the next-door neighbor’s home. The kidnapping victim reportedly said he became aware that both Baker and Hawkins had handguns and became uneasy; he said he had never seen Hawkins with a gun before, and he hadn’t met Baker before that night.

The detective reported that a confrontation occurred between Baker, Hawkins, and the shooting victim, who was passing the houses on a bicycle, and that victim was shot.

The kidnapping victim reportedly said he saw Baker shoot about four times and was not looking at Hawkins; he heard the shooting victim yell that he had been shot.

The kidnapping victim said that immediately after the shooting, Baker fled back toward his house, Hawkins fled northbound over a fence, and the kidnapping victim ran for his car, which was parked on the street, north of Baker’s house. He said he was afraid because he didn’t know why Baker started shooting and believed it was for “no reason.”

The victim said that as he started to drive away, the rear driver’s side door opened, and Hawkins got in, uninvited; he saw that Hawkins still had a gun in his hand, and Hawkins allegedly told him to “drive.” The victim said he followed Hawkins’s directions to a residence he could only describe as a “dead end,” and then Hawkins told the victim not to tell anyone what happened and got out of his vehicle.

Hawkins reportedly denied any involvement in the shooting and “told several provable lies about his involvement.” He allegedly told a detective that he saw the people responsible for the shooting flee together in a gray Ford sedan, which was later determined to match the kidnapping victim’s car.

The detective reported that doorbell footage from the next-door neighbor’s house showed Baker, Hawkins, and the kidnapping victim approaching the residence and sitting together; a black object that looks like a gun can be seen in Hawkins’s hoodie pocket. Although Baker reportedly told an officer to look at the doorbell videos from his house and the neighbor’s house, the detective wrote that “no other video views have been provided… at this time that show the shooting or anything beyond this trio approaching the residence.”

Hawkins has been charged with kidnapping to facilitate the commission of a felony. He has juvenile convictions spanning 2019 to 2021 and one adult misdemeanor conviction (non-violent). Judge David Kreider 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.