HomeCrimeGainesville City Manager releases statement about arrest during church service

Gainesville City Manager releases statement about arrest during church service

October 29, 2024

Press release from City of Gainesville

Parishioners worshiping at Gainesville Christian Center on NE 16th Avenue Sunday morning were interrupted when Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers, who were actively pursing a fleeing subject who had been tased, entered the location. The subject was apprehended and arrested inside the Gainesville Christian Center. 

I can only imagine how deeply this has affected the parishioners in attendance. It is also extremely upsetting to me that this occurred in the presence of families and children. However, the first and foremost priority for the officers was the safety and security of the parishioners. 

I, myself, was attending services when church leader Pastor Lenard Gainey called me and Police Chief Nelson Moya. I left my own church service to meet with the congregation and hear firsthand from those who witnessed the incident. 

GPD is reviewing the incident, and I want to assure the parishioners that I am working closely with Chief Moya who is in communication with Pastor Gainey. I know this incident has raised serious concerns within our community. Still, it is vital to understand all details about this arrest and the perspectives of all those involved to address the lingering concerns about this incident throughout the community.

Cynthia W. Curry

  • What about the victim? Are you concerned about her or only about the feelings of people who immediately ran to social media to claim that the incident was racist?

    The most important thing to know here is that the police and the parishioners had different sets of information: the police did not know that the fleeing suspect considered the church his home, and the parishioners did not know what he had done at the Dollar General. Instead of acknowledging this, “the community” is making it about race when there was no evidence at all that it had anything to do with race until Al Williams made it about race on Facebook and Faye Williams shared it.

    Handling “the community” with kid gloves while expecting the police to suck it up is a recipe for increasing racial division, and unless the final word in this incident shows strong support for officers who had no idea what this man’s intentions were (or whether he was armed) when he ran into the church, this will simply add to our local divisions.

  • The fact she felt the need to make a statement is ridiculous enough but to talk out both sides of her mouth is typical. GPD was doing their job. Not a word would have been said if it had been a white man that ran in that church and that is the problem. It doesn’t matter what color the individual that committed the crime was. The same people bi**hing and complainning the police followed a suspect into a church would also be bit*hing if he had a weapon and ran in that same church but the police did not follow. Police have no way of knowing if a suspect has a weapon or not or what their intention might be. All they know is that suspect is running which is where the so called “escalation” began and is in fact running into a place full of citizens they are sworn to protect.

    • Something would have definitely been said. It would be that the white man was about to victimize the entire black church.

    • You are absolutely correct! If the police hadn’t ran in there and then the person would have pulled a gun, held someone hostage or etc. they would be fussing about that! Police has the job to react quick to control the situation before things get out of hand.

    • Unfortunately you are missing an important piece to this story. Please study to be quiet and let all the facts come out.

  • Just like Kamala… trying to thread the needle for both sides. It’s impossible.

    For once, stand up for your law enforcement officers and leadership in front of the racial mob.

  • Weak, Once we thought we had a City Manager who supported the Police, we get another dingle berry whom is afraid to stand up to the citizens who hate the police. “Until they need them”. This is a blatant show of weakness by Curry. I do understand that she has to straddle the fence to some degree, however by giving the appearance of this weakness she is or has lost the support of the police officers whom work at the Gainesville Police Department. Sad that a few RACIST at the church can provide misleading accounts of this incident as fact is troublesome. RELEASE the officers body camera footage of the incident. In FULL. No editing!

  • Shame on Curry. What a terrible missed opportunity to show unequivocal support for GPD Officers and to show the reality of bystander interference with their daily work. I join the call for complete and unedited body camera footage. There is still time for a statement from the Chief of strong support and shut down this idiocy.

    • The chief works for the city manager. Sure, he could go against her and speak up, but then he would be fired, and who knows who the next chief would be?

      • Fortunately this Chief (Moya) doesn’t play that- he’s a VERY straight-shooter. Not a puppet like Tony.

        • Moya has not been Chief that long for you to make an understatement. If you dance to the music, you pay to the piper. Moya can’t hold a candle to Tony Jones. You must be a puppet that dangle by their strings.

          • Hey Dee- if you believe that, you must believe in the tooth fairy!
            Tony was a puppet and a half! Only cared about Reichert house, not his department.

  • What are the cops supposed to do, let the guy run in there and potentially take hostages? I applaud GPD for going in there and getting taking the guy down, that situation could have went south quickly.

  • This is something that has been going on so long and has to be called out for what it is, otherwise it won’t end or at least be properly addressed.. to think a criminal can run into a church AFTER committing a crime, then have “parishioners” shelter him and call the officers racists shows what kind of church that really is..

    • The robber that was arrested, Anthony Lee Gainey Jr, is a “Director” of this “church,” so it’s only natural they’re mad.

    • When the criminals run in a school or church murdering people, this apparently defines the school or church where innocent people were killed. What are you saying? If a robber robs a bank, is this defining the type of bank? Ms. Curry can’t allow these thugs that are being portrayed as policemen to remain out of control. This should have been done different.

    • my question is why , when the citizenry obviously support the police , is an elected official not supporting our wishes? GPD is at half staff and has been for years, shame on curry.

  • Thank you, GPD for apprehending this lowlife who has no respect for societal laws and/or the consumers who get screwed by the higher costs of goods due to theft.

    Cynthia Curry should be ashamed of herself. “This incident has raised serious concerns” about what exactly? Say thank you to the GPD officers who did their job. Novel concept, huh? The fact that Curry is our city manager is appalling.

    As for the traumatized parishioners? Give me a break. The city manager is not a counselor and this is nothing more than another one of her political stunts to besmirch GPD. If you are a Christian, then you should know all about good v. evil and right v. wrong. Read your bible.

    This is simply another example of how idiotic the culture is in this town.

    • As long as the Chief replaces another Charter Officer. The last thing the City needs is another one.

    • Evidently you’re basing your opinion on assumptions. I’m quite sure if a bunch of cops would have invaded your church without informing someone what their purpose is you’ll have a problem. Also when they knock people over during entering they were informed that the individual was mentally ill but they chose to ignore the social worker who was in attendance. Doing your job is not the problem..it how you do it. It’s not that the individual had killed someone or had a weapon of sort. I promise GPD wouldn’t have rampage a white congregation like they did. GPD please do your job but have some respect for people place of worship. This is not burger king where you have it your way without consequence’s. Mrs Curry is not playing one side or the other…she respects both sides until everything has been investigated. Have a nice day!

      • It sounds like you were there, meaning what I wrote about above applies: you had information that the police did not.

        But here’s the thing: you may have strongly believed that the suspect posed no danger to the congregation, but you could not know for sure. Maybe he picked up a gun from a buddy and – as upset as he was – might have shot the social worker if the cops had stepped back. Your message today would be entirely different if someone had been killed. Fortunately, nobody was.

        But regardless: the cops did not know whether he was armed. They couldn’t know until they detained him and searched him, so that needed to happen before any social worker or family member intervened. THAT WAS FOR THE SAFETY OF EVERYONE THERE.

        Once they were told the subject was mentally ill, it was EVEN MORE IMPORTANT for them to ensure he was not armed. They had no way of knowing how that mental illness might affect his actions.

        GPD absolutely would have pursued a fugitive into a white church, FOR THE SAME REASONS. There was nothing racial about this incident, and this continued race-baiting hurts everyone in our community.

        • Name one white church that these officers would have disrupted. Not Holy Trinity or Westside Baptist.

          • I would hope the officers would pursue a fleeing suspect into ANY church. The suspect disrupted the church service first, not the cops. It was the suspect’s choice to run into the church, and the police had no way of knowing whether he would harm the people inside.

            Many people seem to have lost sight of the fact that he committed several felonies before running into the church. Even if he had run into his own home, the cops could have pursued – again, they can’t assume that the people inside are safe until the suspect is detained and searched.

            Once you run from the police, you lose any chance of setting the terms of engagement; you are now a fleeing suspect, and the cops have a duty to protect others from whatever you might do in your panic to get away.

            This is not racial in any way, and every church I’ve ever been to would have thanked the police for doing their jobs, even if they were distressed at the circumstances (a man from their own congregation who struggles with mental health issues).

            There is no question that this was a distressing incident, but it began when the suspect, who was declared mentally competent in June and placed on probation, decided to break the law again. His family doesn’t have any legal responsibility to supervise him, but if someone had made sure he was in church (and as someone mentioned elsewhere, he is listed as a Director of the church in Sunbiz, despite his criminal conviction for willful child abuse) and not robbing a Dollar General, this would never have happened.

      • That’s funny. They’re in an active pursuit and arrest and you want them to stop everything to listen to a social worker.

    • Apparently you haven’t been reading your Bible. The actions of these officers shouldn’t be tolerated.Apparently they felt the Church was covering them because they were so gungho arresting a mental patient that they forgot to cover their own backs. Someone could have ambushed all of them from the rear in the holy sanctuary. This apparently tells you what type of church they ran into that protected all parties. Hallelujah to this.

  • More evidence that the Chief of GPD should be a charter officer and not beholden to the City Manager. And more evidence that the City Manager shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near GRU except to pay her utility bill.

  • I wonder how many other Pastors in the area have her personal number to call?
    I’m sure she doesn’t take calls about the homeless and the trash being left on their steps.

    • How many pastors in the city, not area feed the first responders annually, help homeless people with food, shelter etc.? How many pastors in the city that allow anyone to have funerals at their church without a cost? How many pastors in this area pastor without receiving a dime for their services? There are many that are called but few are chosen. Apparently, there should be more pastors emulating Lenard Gainey and this would be a better place to live in. How many pastors were active participants of Peaceful Sundays from beginning to end like Lenard Gainey? Zero because apparently they were fearful of the crowd but Lenard Gainey knew God covered him without any fear of intermingling with the Peaceful Sunday’s crowd. These are the same policemen that terrorize people of color daily. They need to be exposed and be relieved as sworn officers. They need to give praises to God for being in Lenard Gainey house of protection from God because in the video, the officers could have been ambushed from behind because all focus was on multiple officers attacking a mental health patient. Maybe, you should remove trash from the steps instead of trying to talk trash about God’s least ones.

  • So……
    This dude Committed, robbery, theft, and then escaped two GPD officer’s, a shot from a GPD officer’s issued taser, then, trying to get away from the cops he ran.
    And then, he ran into a church, which had active “Black Church” Sunday morning services going on, and the “Church Fellowship” ridicules GPD Officer’s for apprehension of the criminally insane ???
    So, not even Jesus Christ Himself, could straighten this out last Sunday morning…..?
    I think everybody “Won”.
    I think the church fellowship (In the name of Jesus) got to see GPD in action in the House of God.
    It reminds of a scene from that movie
    “Oh Brother Where art Thou”, where they put ‘Homer Stokes’ on the log, and carry him away from the concert.
    He says ;
    “Those boys trampled on our religious practices!” “Hell, they ain’t even old timey!”
    “Those Boys Escaped From The Farm!!!”
    “And I have it from the highest Authority That the Guitar Player sold his sole to the Devil” !!!
    😜

    • The robber that was arrested, Anthony Lee Gainey Jr, is a “Director” of this “church,” so it’s only natural they’re mad.

    • He did what Diddy did. Who is the guitar player that sold his soul? Is this the reason those demonic officers stormed the house to arrest a mental patient? Look at the video and one of the officers look like he was strung out on Molly, bath salts or fentanyl trying to handcuff the patient. This is interesting that Diddy has followers in Gainesville.

  • The Gainesville City Manager is basically saying if you’re a criminal running from the cops and you happen to be black, you can run into any black church and the cops are not allowed to follow you. Got it.

  • If the criminal had been white and burst into the church it would not have been a problem. The arrested person was a CRIMINAL and there was a victim. This race victimhood has to stop.

    • The robber that was arrested, Anthony Lee Gainey Jr, is a “Director” of this “church,” so it’s only natural they’re mad.

      • What does he directs at the church? Apparently you are a member to nominate this guy as a director.

        • Or maybe I’m smarter than you and I know how to look up this “church” in Sunbiz and look at the business registration.

  • Good job GPD, thank you for keeping those ungreatful church goers safe… shame on you Curry, and f**k all criminal lovers

  • You don’t have to look any further than the Sunbiz registration for this “church” to see that it’s run by the Gaineys, including the robber and convicted felon, Anthony Gainey. That’s very Christian of them.

  • What kind of a clown community is this? The criminal should have never gotten away from the cops to begin with. We’re they cadets??? Get real Gainesville.

    • Eastsider: it’s not easy to apprehend a suspect…this guy escaped like a greased pig. The cops got him..good job GPD.

      They should arrest any parishioners who interfered with the arrest at that church…they have the video footage…anybody interfering with law enforcement from doing their job should be charged and brought to jail.

  • “I know this incident has raised serious concerns within our community. Still, it is vital to understand all details about this arrest and the perspectives of all those involved to address the lingering concerns about this incident throughout the community.”

    What concerns? What perspectives? People do bad things. They are chased by police when they flee. Police doing what they are paid to do. The city manager’s statement is pandering foolishness.

    “It is also extremely upsetting to me that this occurred in the presence of families and children.”

    That is childish drivel. Resign and get mental health help.

  • This is the stupidest thing in the world for someone to actually be complaining about. If he had a gun, and the police didn’t pursue him and he shot someone in the church… what then?

  • Again…support and protect those who break our laws. Forget about the victim. Stop using mental illness as a “get out of jail” card. All of GOD should either quit or stage a walk out.

  • How embarrasing for Curry to involve herself and admonish the GPD. Shame on her for reinforcing the message of how dare the police do their jobs. This guy steals and then resists officers to the point they have to tase him, then escapes to his father’s church service. Take his theiving a** to jail. Shame on Curry, her pandering and virtue signaling are why officers leave this career.

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