ASO Deputy arrested in Dixie County allegedly hit two people and threatened to shoot four people

Staff report

CROSS CITY, Fla. – Leviticus Leon Murray Jr., 28, of Old Town, was arrested early Friday morning in Cross City for allegedly battering two people and threatening to shoot four people. Murray had been employed by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office since December 2025, but Sheriff Chad Scott announced on Saturday that he had been fired.

[Editor’s note: the level of redaction in the arrest report makes it difficult to distinguish between the various people involved in this altercation; we did our best to sort it out, but there may be errors.]

According to Murray’s arrest report, a Dixie County Sheriff’s Deputy was dispatched to a call about an argument between a male and two females, and when he arrived, a man said that a male later identified as Murray and two women had been arguing in front of his home, but Murray had left on foot.

A witness at the location said she had picked Murray up at a bar in Fanning Springs to take him to the hospital because his wife was possibly going into labor, but then his wife called and said she was on her way home; the witness said they were heading back to Murray’s residence to wait for his wife when Murray asked to go to a different address. At that location, she said, Murray started flirting with another woman, and when that woman’s boyfriend asked him to stop, Murray tried to hit him; when a woman tried to separate Murray and the boyfriend, Murray allegedly grabbed her by the hair and neck and started hitting her in the ribs. The witness said they tried to get Murray to go home, but he refused, and then he threatened to shoot everyone before walking away.

A female victim reportedly said that Murray had grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a car after she tried to break up the fight; she said Murray fell to the ground after attempting to hit someone else, and then she tried to get Murray to go home, but he grabbed her by the neck and hit her on the ground. She said Murray went after others at the location and hit someone (redacted) before he said he would shoot them all and then left.

Another victim said Murray hit her friends, and when she told him to stop, he turned and started punching her before saying he would shoot all of them; she said that when he was told someone had called 911, he left on foot.

A witness reportedly said she was hanging out with friends at the location when a guy, later identified as Murray, walked up, started asking her a bunch of questions, and flirted with her. She said it made her very uncomfortable, so she told him she had a boyfriend and didn’t want to talk to him anymore. She said that at that point, he started fighting with everyone and threatening to shoot everyone. She said he stopped fighting and left on foot, but she didn’t know where he had gone.

The deputy reported that he saw a man running down the road, and when he approached that area, Murray came out from behind a vehicle with his hands raised. Murray reportedly said he had been attacked, but he did not say who had attacked him; he said he was an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy, that he did not have a firearm on him, and that both his firearms were secured in his bedroom at home.

A K-9 team searched the area for firearms but did not find anything.

The deputy noted that everyone at the scene knew that Murray was a Deputy Sheriff and that he “always” carried a pistol; they said they believed Murray had a pistol at the time of the threat and feared for their safety.

Murray was arrested and booked into the Dixie County Jail. He has been charged with two counts of battery and four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Dixie County Judge Jennifer Johnson set bail at $8,000.

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