17-year-old charged as an adult in Lewis Place shooting

Staff report

Updated on September 29 with additional bail information.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – R’jay Jaron Copeland, 17, has been charged as an adult as an accessory after the fact to an August 7 shooting at Lewis Place Apartments.

At about 7:25 p.m. on August 7, Gainesville Police Department officers responded to a call about shots fired at Lewis Place Apartments (4121 NE 15th Street) and found two victims, one of whom had been grazed on the cheek.

The victims said they were standing outside Building 1 when they saw a white Nissan sedan drive into the parking lot; they said one person got out of the car (referred to below as the first witness) and walked toward them. They said the front-seat passenger was 16-year-old Peter Roman (who has also been charged as an adult in this case), and the driver was Copeland; the back-seat passenger is referred to below as the second witness.

The first victim said that he and the second victim walked toward the car with the intention of “going to smoke,” but Copeland began driving away, and he saw Roman, also known as “P3,” leaning out of the front passenger-side window and then firing multiple rounds toward them from a handgun. He said a bullet grazed his cheek.

The second victim said he did not see the person who shot at them, but he confirmed that he knew the three males in the car at the time.

The first witness, who was initially in the back seat of the car, reportedly said the two victims were standing in the breezeway of an apartment building when the car entered the parking lot, and Roman told the first witness he “need[ed] to pick a side.” He said he saw Roman rack a gun, so he got out of the car. He said he saw Roman fire multiple rounds in the direction of the victims as the car left the parking lot; he also said that the three occupants of the car put on ski masks just before the shooting.

Another witness at the scene reportedly confirmed the identities of the car’s occupants.

Officers reportedly found six .45-caliber bullets near the front entrance of the apartment complex; they did not find any impacts to buildings or vehicles, but the first victim had a scratch on his cheek, corroborating his account that shots were fired at him.

Surveillance video reportedly showed a black male leaning out of the front passenger-side window of the white sedan and then pointing the gun at the victims as the car drove out of the parking lot.

After the shooting, Roman and Copeland reportedly made several phone calls to their respective parents, and they refused to return to the scene to speak with officers.

The second witness reportedly said he saw the first victim pull out a handgun with a purple laser and then point the gun at the sedan; he said Copeland took a pistol from his waistband, racked the slide, and handed the pistol to Roman. The witness said the first victim returned his pistol to his waistband but continued walking toward the sedan, and Roman told Copeland to “pull out,” so they began driving out of the parking lot. He said Roman started shooting from the passenger side of the car, and then they drove to Santa Fe Oaks Apartments (8203 NW 31st Avenue), where the sedan was later found by Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies.

A Gainesville Police Department officer reported that Copeland drove the car throughout the incident and continued driving while Roman leaned out of the car and discharged multiple rounds from the pistol; the officer wrote that Copeland “provided transportation and facilitated [Roman’s] departure from the scene immediately following the shooting.”

Roman has been charged as an adult with attempted homicide, and Copeland has been charged as an adult as an accessory after the fact to second-degree homicide.

Post Miranda, Roman reportedly said that as Copeland sped out of the apartment complex, he handed Roman a black Glock and told him to fire it. He said he aimed the pistol at the victims and fired multiple shots in their direction, and then they drove to Santa Fe Oaks Apartments, where Copeland asked for his pistol back. He said he only shot the gun because Copeland told him to.

Copeland’s arrest report does not mention any post-Miranda statements from him.

Copeland was arrested as a juvenile on August 9 and was booked into the adult jail on September 16. According to a court document, he has an “extensive” juvenile history between 2023 and 2026, and Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $250,000. Copeland’s filed a motion for bond reduction, and Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard denied the motion without prejudice.

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.