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18-year-old charged with shooting automatic pistol near Lewis Place Apartments

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Ja’quez Equon Wallace, 18, was arrested yesterday and charged with possessing and shooting a machine gun.

According to the arresting Gainesville Police Department officer, Wallace is a suspect in multiple shooting investigations; as part of those investigations, search warrants were executed on his cell phone and social media accounts.

The officer reported finding multiple videos showing Wallace with a Glock 22 Gen4 .40 caliber pistol with a “Glock switch” attachment that converts the pistol to automatic operation; the videos date from the time he was a juvenile through October 1 (he turned 18 on September 14). The videos appear to be made in Wallace’s bedroom and are reportedly clear enough to show the serial number of the pistol.

The officer also reported finding messages in which Wallace bragged about the same pistol.

One specific video reportedly showed Wallace and another suspect shooting pistols across the roadway in the 4200 block of NE 15th Street at 3:12 a.m. on September 25. The officer reported that Wallace’s rate of fire was consistent with firing a machine gun. The officer noted that the shots were aimed “in the air, in a populated area of the city, at an angle of which posed a clear danger to persons and property in that direction at great distances.” Wallace lives at Lewis Place Apartments (4121 NE 15th Street), near the area where the shots were fired.

On October 7, a detective reportedly recovered the same Glock 22 with a “Glock switch” after it was discarded while he was pursuing three juveniles; two of the juveniles have reportedly been living with Wallace on and off over the past few months, indicating that Wallace had access to the pistol.

Wallace, who is still in high school, has juvenile convictions in 2019 and 2020. He has been charged with possession of a machine gun and discharging a machine gun. Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $50,000 with a curfew between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. except to attend school and requirements that he surrender any firearms in the home, not miss any days of school, and attend class.

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. 

  • I can only hope that his mom works and tries her best, but if not then WTF?!?!?! 18, still in high school, prior record…Obviously, there are no positive role models. I just don’t get it. What is so cool about going to jail or prison? Either end being someone’s betch or having one. Just wild.

    • You don’t need to worry about his mother!! And yes children are 18 years old in the 12th grade and I’m sure your children or yourself have done foolish things as a minor but just have never been caught don’t believe everything you read

  • If he is living in an income assisted (Gov) apartment, he & all occupants should be booted out & no longer eligible. There should be zero tolerance for Lewis Place, there are many little children there.

  • Seriously? Did the judge think one second about the innocent students and staff he endangers by putting a guy like this into a school? The schools have a hard enough time without a walking disruption like this guy dropped in their classrooms.

  • A name soon to be famous for something bad.
    Oh by the way :
    AI Overview
    Learn more

    If you get caught with a fully automatic weapon, or machine gun, you could face serious consequences, including:
    Federal prison: Up to 10 years in prison for a first conviction, and a mandatory minimum of 30 years if you possessed the weapon while committing another offense
    Fines: Up to $250,000 in fines
    Loss of gun rights: Loss of your gun ownership privileges
    Forfeiture of assets: You could lose your assets
    The National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968 outline the penalties for possessing a machine gun. The NFA defines a machine gun as any weapon that can fire more than one shot automatically. This includes certain semi-automatic weapons that have been modified to fire rapidly.

  • These idiots are getting Dumber by the day all in an effort to look cool on social media. One thing these POS thugs aren’t learning is common sense. Welcome to adulthood and the Alachua County Jail little buddy.

    I’d like to know since he was in possession of a fully automatic weapon when the feds will be alerted and if they’ve been alerted to the several other individuals in the last several months that have been caught with one.

    • Well little buddy is currently getting out on bond don’t believe everything you read Pooh you’l you’d had to be there to know the facts

      • Had to be there to know the facts?!?!?! HE SHOULD NOT EVEN HAVE A GUN IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

  • I’ll be making a call to the feds to investigate this further since it seems to me that local authorities don’t want to get federal agents involved in the uptick of thugs with automatic weapons running around this town. Somebody needs to take a stand and notify them. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse you dummies.

  • Definitely not worried about his mother, but it’s obvious that she has no control over her child. It is common knowledge that one can be 18 and still in high school, so for you to feel the need to point that out is pointless. I have NO criminal history because my parents whooped axx! They made it very clear that IF I did ANYTHING that could potentially result in me going to jail or a juvenile detention facility, they would NOT be coming to get me. They were HEAVY on “You do the crime, you do the time.” Also, I don’t believe everything that I read, but there seems to be some damning video footage in that article. Let’s not forget that the legal age to purchase a gun in the good ol’ state of Florida is 21, so here is some helpful information for YOU to read per FDLE.
    https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FPP/FAQs2.aspx

    Now, I’m curious to know where the gun came from and IF his mother knew that he had it….

    • Well goodie for your parents whooping your ahh but they should’ve taught u how to mind your own business 💋 n even if your parents raised u Right as a child when you’re old enough u have a mind of your own hell what about all these yt kids k”lil:g their parents because they wouldn’t give them money for drugs or buy them a new cell phone oh let me guess they were bad parents too you’re really a joke

      • The same goes for you as YOU clearly were not taught to mind your own business as you chose to reply to MY comment. As for yt kids k-ing their parents (irrelevant to the topic, but I’ll entertain it), b-folks have done the same bc they couldn’t get $ for dope or whatever reason, so try again. To further entertain your dumB response, the parents of the yt kids that you mentioned probably had undiagnosed mental health issues or lacked emotional regulation skills. Hell, idk and neither do YOU. What I do know is that the young man should have been on someone’s clock making $$$ or preparing for school the next day.

  • Kid is starting his life of crime the right way….
    Commit a federal offense!
    That way the other convicts will be impressed and not beat him up, or worse make him pull a train.

  • It is sad that Judge Rawls refuses to see a violent criminal, despite the evidence available. This judge is a major part of the area’s violence problem. I’m not sure what dream world he lives in.

  • Ja’quez Equon ??? With a silly name like this and a hair “doo” like that he’s a neon sign advertising “I’m a criminal.”

  • No point in sending this tub of lard back to school. Just go ahead and throw him in jail since that is his only future. Might as well toss his mother in there, too, since she raised this failure.

    • And you stand on the corner all day soliciting people for change to buy a beer but people aren’t on here bashing you

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