Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tyrese Da’jon Jones, 26, was shot by a deputy last night while being arrested for allegedly holding a woman at gunpoint in her car for four hours.

At approximately 6:57 p.m., the victim reported to 911 that Jones had kept her hostage for three hours. She explained that she and her colleagues from Firehouse Subs went to Blue Springs in separate cars earlier that day, with her driving one of them. Everything at the springs went smoothly, and they all departed together at around 2:40 p.m.

Shortly after, at 2:54 p.m., another driver contacted her, advising her to check her tires. When she stopped, Jones approached her passenger window, claiming people in the other vehicle were “acting weird” and “setting him up,” insisting he switch cars. Upon entering her vehicle, Jones noticed another car that had stopped on the opposite side of the road. The victim described him turning towards that car, pulling a pistol, and aiming it at her face before directing it at both the co-workers’ vehicle and another car trailing behind them, all while shouting for her to drive.

The victim said that throughout the ordeal, Jones was either pointing the gun at something specific, holding it in his lap, or waving it around in her direction with his finger on the trigger. She said Jones kept saying people were coming after them, that the victim was setting him up, and if they didn’t kill her, he would. She said he also made multiple statements that he would kill her and then himself.

The victim said Jones made her go to multiple locations, directing her when to turn and when to speed up and slow down; he would not let her make stops or get out of the vehicle. At one point, the victim said, she told him they should contact law enforcement if people were following them, but Jones got upset and again started saying the victim was setting him up and law enforcement was in on it.

The victim said that after some time, she got upset and told Jones she didn’t care what was happening with him, but she needed to take the other passenger home. She said Jones told her she couldn’t do that, kept giving her directions, and told her people were following them and that if they didn’t kill her, he would. The victim said she took the passenger home, anyway, and they all got out of the vehicle at the passenger’s home.

The passenger later reportedly told a deputy that Jones appeared paranoid and claimed to have ingested MDMA, commonly referred to as “beans.”

The victim said Jones said he just wanted a ride home, so she got back into her vehicle with him again, but on the way, Jones saw a vehicle that was similar to one of the previous vehicles he had seen; when she put on her turn signal to pull into his apartment complex, she said, Jones started yelling that she was setting him up and giving away their location. She said he told her to keep driving and then told her to go to Walmart.

Once at Walmart, the victim said, they sat in the car for about 10 minutes, but Jones again started saying they were being followed and told her to drive to Publix. She said they sat in the vehicle at Publix for about 40 minutes, and she tried several times to get out of the vehicle or use her phone, but when she did, Jones waved his gun and said she was setting him up.

She said at one point, another vehicle pulled in next to them, and Jones pointed the gun behind her seat at the other vehicle and yelled at her that they needed to leave, get out of the city, and go east. She said she convinced him to let her go to the bathroom at CVS, where he put the gun in his waistband, followed her to the bathroom, and waited right outside the door.

When she left the bathroom, she said, Jones demanded her phone so he could search it, but she refused, and they went back to her vehicle; they got in, and Jones pulled the gun from his waistband again.

Back in the car, she said, he asked if he could use her phone to call his mother, and when she asked for her phone back after the call, he refused. She said she threatened to crash the car and later said she would need gas. She said she tried to drive to the Circle K in the city of Archer because she was familiar with the area, but when they drove past the Wawa on SW Archer Road, he again started screaming that she was setting him up and told her to turn around.

She said they drove to Firehouse Subs (3221 SW 35th Place) and sat in that parking lot for about 20 minutes while he continued saying she was setting him up. She said she told him he needed to get out so she could go to work, and he said, “I gotchu, I gotchu, my bad,” gave her a “weird look and smirked at her” while putting the gun back in his waistband, picked up his backpack, and got out of the vehicle, slamming the door behind him. The victim called 911.

Deputies responded quickly and established a perimeter around Firehouse Subs; in a social media post today, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office wrote, “During the incident, it is believed individuals inside the business – who were familiar with the suspect – warned [Jones] that law enforcement was outside.”

At about 9:51 p.m., Jones reportedly left Firehouse Subs and drew his gun when approached by deputies; in response,a deputy discharged his weapon. Jones reportedly suffered what appeared to be a minor injury and was treated at a local hospital before being transported to the Alachua County Jail.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will conduct an independent investigation into the shooting, and the deputy was placed on paid administrative leave.

The arresting deputy noted that the time elapsed between when Jones got into the victim’s car and eventually got out at Firehouse Subs was about four hours, and during this time, the victim was afraid that she could not move about freely or call law enforcement without fear of being injured by Jones.

Jones has been charged with kidnapping, obstructing justice by preventing access to 911, and aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony. He has four felony convictions (non-violent), three of them from a 2023 incident in which his roommate called 911 and said he was high on “beans” and waving a gun around.

In September 2023, Jones entered a plea of nolo contendere to charges of grand theft (from a previous case), possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, and possession of marijuana with intent to sell; charges of committing a second-degree felony while armed, grand theft of a firearm, and maintaining a drug dwelling were dropped. He was sentenced to 150 days in jail, followed by three years of drug offender probation. After he violated probation, he was sentenced to an additional 45 days in jail, and the first 18 months of probation were converted to community control (house arrest). He violated the community control conditions two months later and was sentenced to 16 months in prison with credit for 197 days served; he was released on February 24, 2025.

Judge Kristine Van Vorst 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.