17-year-old on juvenile probation charged as adult with attempted homicide

Staff report

Updated on February 11 with pre-trial detention information.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Ze’kayvion Markese Brey’on Clemons, 17, has been charged as an adult with attempted first-degree homicide after allegedly shooting a man three times in the torso in July 2025.

At about 5:54 p.m. on July 28, 2025, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to an apartment in the Tower Oaks area and found the victim outside Clemons’s apartment with three gunshot wounds to his torso. Deputies rendered aid to the victim, and when they asked who shot him, he reportedly said, “KB.”

A witness told deputies that the victim has had issues with Clemons and his friends because the victim suspected that the juveniles had stolen items around the neighborhood. Before the shots were fired, Clemons’s mother was reportedly arguing with the victim at her front door about this, and at some point, the victim “got in her face” but did not give any indication that he was about to do anything violent. The victim reportedly saw Clemons pick up a gun inside the apartment, and as the victim backed up, Clemons allegedly shot him three times.

Clemons’s mother reportedly said she had been arguing with the victim at her front door when the victim “got in the face” of Clemons’s juvenile sister, so Clemons told his mother to step aside and fired a handgun at the victim. She said that as far as she knew, the victim did not have a weapon at the time of the altercation, but she had seen him with a “long rifle type firearm” earlier in the day. She reportedly said that the victim threatened to “shoot it up” during the argument.

Two witnesses said the door was closed after the shots were fired, but an unknown person kicked the door in, so all the occupants of the apartment ran out the back door, and Clemons could not be found while deputies were at the scene.

Deputies obtained consent to search the apartment and reportedly found two shell casings inside the apartment and one shell casing outside, a few feet from the front door. Two unloaded 9mm magazines were reportedly found in Clemons’s bedroom.

In an interview the next day, a witness reportedly confirmed that Clemons goes by “KV” and that he took the gun with him when he ran and dropped it somewhere. A second witness said that the victim later confirmed that “KV” had shot him; that witness identified Clemons in a photo line-up as the person he knew as “KV” or “KB.”

Three days after the shooting, a deputy met with Clemons and his mother at the Alachua Police Department, and Clemons’s mother said she would not allow him to be interviewed, but he would provide a written statement. The statement reportedly said that the victim had been harassing Clemons for a month and had displayed handguns. Clemons reportedly wrote that when the victim came to his apartment, he made a comment about “finna shoot dat sh** up” and then moved closer to the door and closer to his juvenile sister. Clemons reportedly wrote that the victim had a gun at his side, and he wrote that he “shot him 3 times.” Clemons wrote that the victim was told to leave the apartment, but he did not leave.

After the deputy read the statement, Clemons’s mother reportedly told him that the victim had been seen earlier in the day with a firearm, but she did not see a firearm during the argument at her apartment; she said the victim was “chest to chest” with her when he started making comments toward her daughter.

Extensive K-9 searches in the area behind the apartment were done after the incident, but no firearm was found.

About a week after the incident, the victim had recovered enough to speak with a deputy, and he reportedly said he had suspected that Clemons had stolen items from his vehicle, and on the date of the shooting, he saw Clemons and became upset. He said he went to Clemons’s apartment to “communicate his displeasure of the situation,” and while he was speaking with Clemons’s mother, he saw another male in the apartment hand a firearm to Clemons; before he could retreat, he said, Clemons shot at him. He said he fell down and started crawling away, and Clemons came outside and shot at him again. The victim said he never had a gun and never entered the apartment.

The deputy noted that Clemons shot the victim, who was unarmed at the time, and continued shooting at the victim outside the apartment after there was clearly no threat from the victim.

At the time of the incident, Clemons was on juvenile probation and had a curfew starting at 7 p.m., and he violated the curfew when he ran from the apartment. Clemons was initially arrested for attempted second-degree homicide and violating juvenile probation, and he has now been charged as an adult with attempted first-degree homicide. Judge Meshon Rawls ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial. On February 9, Judge Robert Groeb granted the motion and ordered Clemons held 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.