GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A judge in Gainesville this week granted a request by prosecutors to keep in jail indefinitely a man accused in a string of drive-by, gang-related shootings in the city.
Investigators said they tied Jeremiah Charles White, 25, of Alachua to shootings in the summer of 2022 by matching bullet cases at the state police crime lab and surveillance video from the gunfire. In all the shootings, no one was hit by bullets, police said.
White – who police associated with members of a gang in the Phoenix neighborhood in Gainesville – entered a plea of not guilty through his public defender earlier this month. He filed court records showing he is unemployed with no income and no assets.
Police said they believe the shootings targeted members of the rival 8th Avenue, or KIG, gang. As a previously convicted felon, White would have been prohibited from possessing a gun. White is charged with attempted second-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm.
In a related case, White is charged with attempted second-degree murder, shooting from a vehicle and resisting police.
White was arrested shortly after one of the shootings in July 2022 after a brief police chase ended with a car crash.
On Tuesday, Circuit Judge William Davis agreed to keep White jailed until his trial with no bond. As of Wednesday, White has been jailed for 941 days without a trial.
“There are no conditions of release reasonably sufficient to protect the community from the risk of physical harm,” Assistant State Attorney Pamela Brockway told the judge.
Police said White is suspected in a shooting July 3, 2022, when someone fired into a crowd outside a Subway sandwich restaurant on University Avenue. Investigators found 9mm shell casings and sent them to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for analysis.
Police said White also is suspected in a shooting five days later outside the Clarence R. Kelly Community Center, when someone in a passing car fired at two men walking nearby but missed.
Two weeks after the Subway shooting, on July 17, 2022, shots rang out near downtown bars at about 2 a.m., when the area’s bars close. Police chased a Kia Soul that fled the scene until it crashed. Four people inside – including White – tried to run on foot but were captured.
Surveillance video showed a muzzle flash from the rear passenger window, indicating to officers that this is where the handgun was fired from. Officers later located the 9mm shell casings and submitted those to the crime lab for comparison.
The man in the rear passenger seat was identified as White. Police said they identified him by his faded hairstyle and goatee. White was wearing the same Nike shirt and all-white sneakers and socks as the shooter in surveillance video from the shooting outside the Subway.
Police said they found a 9mm Springfield pistol on Main Street after the shooting near the downtown bars. The other men in the car said it was White’s, police said.
The crime lab matched the casings from the three shootings to the Springfield pistol.
Police also said digital evidence from White’s phone showed he was in the area of all three shootings.
After a search of White’s cell phone, officers concluded that he was in the area of all three shootings when they occurred.
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