18-year-old with extensive juvenile criminal history arrested for December 18 shooting

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brandon Cushion, 18, was arrested yesterday on a warrant for shooting a man on December 18 on NE 11th Street.

A Gainesville Police Department investigation of the shooting determined that the victim had been at the Circle K at 20 NE Waldo Road, looking for “blunts” on the ground, when Cushion asked him if he’d seen “weed” that Cushion thought he’d dropped at the gas station. The victim said he didn’t have Cushion’s weed and started walking home; he said Cushion was the passenger in a car that pulled alongside him in the 400 block of NE 11th Street at about 3:15 p.m. as he walked home, and Cushion allegedly got out of the car with a gun in his hand. The victim said Cushion made him empty his pockets and that he’d been in fear that Cushion would shoot him. He said he pulled a knife out of his pocket out of fear, and when he pulled out the knife, Cushion shot him in the abdomen.

A witness said a small gray compact car was involved in the shooting, and officers reportedly obtained the car’s tag number from surveillance video from a house on NE 11th Street. The video reportedly showed the victim walking along the street when the gray car stopped next to him; Cushion got out of the car and appeared to try to talk to the victim. The victim can be seen emptying his pockets, then he picked up his belongings. The video, which is motion-activated, stopped for 17 seconds, and when it resumed, Cushion approached the victim; the victim appeared to drop something, then moved toward Cushion. Cushion reportedly backed up and immediately shot the victim; the victim fell to the ground, and Cushion ran back to the car. The video reportedly showed Cushion with a gun in his hand after the shot was heard.

Officers went to the address associated with the car’s tag and spoke with a witness who said Cushion thought he had dropped his weed at the Circle K and asked the witness to drive him back to the gas station. He said Cushion said something about “weed” to the victim at the gas station, then they left. They later saw the victim walking along the road, and Cushion tried again to speak to the victim; when the victim did not respond, Cushion got out of the car. The witness reportedly heard a gunshot but did not see what happened; Cushion got back in the car, and they drove away.

Officers found video of Cushion from the day of the shooting and reported that he was wearing the same clothes that the shooter wore on the surveillance video of the shooting.

Cushion has juvenile convictions for burglary of a dwelling, petit theft, grand theft of a firearm, burglary of a conveyance, and possession of a firearm by a minor. He was separately charged with two counts of burglary of a dwelling, two counts of resisting an officer without violence, two counts of loitering, two counts of burglary of a conveyance, burglary of a structure, criminal mischief, grand theft, and petit theft; the disposition of these charges is not available because juvenile cases are not public, but they are not listed under convictions.

Cushion has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, attempted felony murder (a 10-20-Life charge), and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent. Judge David Kreider’s warrant set bail at $700,000.

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.