17-year-old on probation for murder arrested for gun possession

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jerquay Lavon Freeman, 17, was arrested early yesterday morning and charged with possession of a firearm by a delinquent under 24 years of age. Freeman is on probation after serving a two-year state prison sentence on a second-degree murder charge.

Freeman was a passenger in the back seat of a car that pulled into a City park on SW 20th Avenue after midnight. A Gainesville Police Department officer made contact with the occupants of the car because they were in a City park while it was closed. After Freeman provided his name and date of birth, the officer was informed that he was on probation for second-degree murder.

Another officer on scene told the first officer that he saw Freeman placing something under his seat, so the officers asked the occupants to get out of the car. The first officer stayed on the driver’s side of the vehicle, shining his flashlight at Freeman’s feet. As Freeman got out of the car, the officer reportedly saw the handle of a pistol. Freeman was placed in handcuffs, and the pistol was removed from the vehicle and found to have a round in the chamber.

Freeman was charged as an adult with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for threatening to shoot someone in July of 2020, when he was 15. He was also charged as an adult with two counts of attempted murder in the first degree and one count of possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent for shooting two people on September 26, 2020. He was later charged as an adult for a vehicle burglary and theft that took place on September 21, 2020. On July 27, 2021, he entered pleas of nolo contendere to the aggravated assault charge in the first case, a lesser included charge of attempted second-degree murder in the second case, and the burglary and theft charges.

He was sentenced to 46 days (time served) for the burglary and theft charges by Judge Phillip Pena and sentenced as a youthful offender to two years of prison, followed by four years of probation, by Judge David Kreider in the other two cases (served concurrently). The State also agreed to dismiss all pending burglary investigations as a condition of the plea agreement. He was ordered to pay restitution to four victims, presumably victims of the burglaries.

Freeman was released from state prison on August 12, 2022. In addition to the felony gun possession charge, he has been charged with violation of probation and is being held without bond on that charge. The bond for the gun possession charge has been set at $500,000.

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.