17-year-old charged as adult in armed robbery at Madison Cove Apartments in June 2024

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mikel Wallace, 17, has been charged as an adult with armed robbery in connection with a shooting at Madison Cove Apartments on June 29, 2024.

At about 4 a.m. on June 29, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to reports of shots fired at Madison Cove Apartments (5500 SW Archer Road). Deputies found ten .40 caliber shell casings in front of building I and several bullet holes in the walls and doors of one apartment in that building. Several bullets reportedly traveled through the door and hit walls and other objects inside the apartment.

Deputies learned that there had been a small party in a nearby apartment, and witnesses said there had been some sort of disturbance inside the apartment.

Through follow-up interviews with people at the party, a deputy located one of the victims, who reportedly said Mikhai Carter (who was arrested in July) and Wallace came to the apartment with guns, locked the front door, demanded that the victim give them money, and took a gun from his friend.

The first victim said he told them he did not have cash, so the two suspects told him to send money to their Cash App; he said he had $140 in his Cash App account, and they made him send the money, but he was able to quickly turn off his cellular data so that the transaction did not go through.

The first victim said his friend ran out of the apartment and yelled that they had been robbed; Carter and Wallace also ran outside, someone in the parking lot shot at Carter, and Carter shot back. The two suspects reportedly got into a car and left.

The second victim reportedly provided video starting at 4:20 a.m., when she heard loud voices and got out of bed in the apartment where the incident occurred. A second video at 4:23 a.m. reportedly shows her running back into the bedroom and leaving again; male voices can be heard yelling in the background.

The second victim said both suspects pointed their guns at her when she entered the room and told her to get into the corner; she said she was in fear for her life. She said Wallace searched the first victim’s friend and took a gun from him, and then after the victim and his friend ran out of the front door, she hid in her closet and heard gunshots.

The victims were able to identify the suspects because they had known Carter and Wallace for at least two years.

Wallace was originally charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, and using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony, but he was only formally charged with armed robbery.

Wallace has juvenile convictions between 2022 and 2024. Judge Jonathan Ramsey ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial.

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.