A man awaiting trial on drug charges was arrested on a charge of attempted murder, accused of shooting the owner of a low-budget motel in the leg during a dispute.
Travis Jarrod McKenney, 36, of Opa Locka, Florida, was in the Alachua County Jail on Wednesday. He was awaiting trial on an unrelated, felony drug charge after Gainesville police said they pulled him over on a scooter during a traffic stop Aug. 17 and saw him covertly discard a small amount of what they determined was crack cocaine.
The county judge in the drug case, Susan Miller-Jones, agreed to allow McKenney to leave jail without posting any bond one day after he was arrested – two months before the motel shooting.
In the motel shooting, police said McKenney and the motel owner were arguing in the parking lot on Tuesday before noon. Witnesses said McKenney fired a pistol but didn’t seriously injure anyone.
He fired again from a balcony, then returned to the scene and fired four more times at the owner, hitting him once. McKenney said he believed the owner was drawing a gun from his waistband, but police said the victim was unarmed. Police found the handgun in McKenney’s motel room.
Witnesses said McKenney had been drinking all morning and was being belligerent and loud outside his room. According to the police report, McKenney lived with his seven children and the two mothers of his children.
The motel is one of a number of low-budget properties along Southwest 13th Street in Gainesville.
In another criminal case, McKenney was accused of waving an assault rifle during an argument with a group of people in August 2021 outside a Gainesville Housing Authority complex. When police arrived, they said they couldn’t locate the gun, but witnesses identified McKenney as the gunman. In that case, McKenney was convicted of a misdemeanor and disorderly conduct, and paid a small fine.
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