An Ocala man awaiting trial in another felony case is facing an attempted murder charge after police said he shot a close friend in the stomach near bars and restaurants across the street from the University of Florida early Sunday and fled toward two dormitory buildings onto the campus.
The incident about 3:30 a.m. set off alarms in the middle of the night across UF's campus, with warnings sent by text, email and app to tens of thousands of students and professors. The alerts said at least two suspects, possibly armed, had fled the shooting.
Police ordered everyone to avoid the Murphree and Thomas hall dormitories. Police said all was clear just 12 minutes later. A university spokeswoman, Cynthia Roldan, said one of three men arrested on campus was picked up near the Student Recreation and Fitness Center, deeper into campus and just east of the Gators football stadium.
Roldan said two other suspects were detained off campus, though their identities weren’t immediately clear.
Neither the victim, a 19-year-old woman from Ocala, nor the accused gunman were students associated with the university. She was hospitalized and underwent surgery, police said. She did not immediately respond to texts or calls later Sunday. Her mother could not immediately be reached because numbers listed for her were disconnected.
There were questions about why the accused gunman, Fabian Marcel Rivera, 24, wasn’t already in jail before the shooting: He was arrested in April after he was accused of fleeing from authorities after speeding, then in July for what police described as running after a fight and again in August after a judge said he didn’t show up for court. Rivera was released on bond again after his Aug. 28 arrest – less than four weeks before Sunday’s shooting.
Rivera remained in jail early Monday, facing the felony attempted murder charge and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest. He could not be reached for comment because the sheriff’s office prohibits inmates from media interviews without written permission from a defense lawyer and a senior jail official. He hasn’t yet hired or been appointed an attorney.
Police said the shooting was caught on video. Surveillance footage showed Rivera seated in the front passenger seat of a car talking to the woman standing outside the driver’s door. Police said Rivera grabbed a handgun from the car’s center console, leaned in front of the driver and shot the woman in the lower abdomen around 3:30 a.m.
Police said Rivera stared at the woman for 30 seconds after he fired, then stepped out of the car, threw a drink can into some nearby bushes and ran from the scene.
The driver – who told police he was a friend of the woman – was on his phone during the shooting, according to the arrest report. After hearing the shot, he told police he looked at Rivera and helped the woman. Another man who said he also was her friend rushed over when he heard a gunshot and applied pressure to stop her bleeding, he told officers.
After police arrested Rivera, he told officers the shooting was an accident, but they didn’t believe him. He said he was trying to secure the gun in the console after seeing it accessible and recognizing that everyone had been drinking. He “was unable to answer why the (victim) was shot if he was trying to secure the firearm,” Officer Kristen Hall wrote, adding, “None of (Rivera’s) statements were consistent with was viewed on video surveillance.”
Rivera told police the woman who was shot was “like a little sister” to him. The woman lives less than one mile from Rivera’s home in Ocala.