GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A Florida man is in custody after being identified as a suspect in a September 2015 robbery and shooting at a local apartment complex.
Andrew Jones, 36, of Jacksonville, was positively identified by witnesses and his DNA left at the scene.
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Last September, a father was helping his 26-year-old daughter fix her car near the entrance of the Hidden Village apartments when they were approached by Jones, police said.
The daughter was sitting in her vehicle while the father was under the hood trying to figure out the issue when Jones approached him with a pistol, demanding the father’s wallet, according to police.
Instinctively, the father struck Jones in the head with his flashlight. Jones then shot the father, striking his femoral artery. After which, Jones stole the father’s wallet and keys, and the daughter’s purse and cellphone. Jones robbed one more witness before speeding away in the father’s car, according to police.
Gainesville police Officer John Pandak arrived on the scene moments after the robbery and applied a tourniquet to the father’s wound, stopping the bleeding and likely saving the man’s life, police said.
Pandak was awarded the Police Star for his life-saving efforts.
On June 8, law enforcement provided an analysis report after testing the flashlight used by the father for the suspect’s DNA. Once the DNA matched Jones, investigators re-interviewed witnesses in the case and learned that Jones was staying at an apartment in Hidden Village during the time of the shooting, and were able to positively identify Jones as the shooter.
According to police records, Jones is a career offender and a violent convicted felon. He’s currently being held in a Baker County Jail on numerous unrelated crimes, including weapons, carjacking, and robbery charges in the Jacksonville area.
Jones is being held under a $3 million bond, according to police.
Gainesville investigators will file charges of attempted murder, three counts of armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.