Gainesville man arrested for hitting romantic rival in the head with a bat

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – William Javonte Jaquez Hooker, 28, was arrested yesterday for allegedly hitting a romantic rival in the head with a baseball bat and hitting his girlfriend in the face.

At about 3:08 p.m. on June 12, Gainesville Police Department officers responded to a residence in Pinewood Estates and learned that Hooker had gone to the residence because he believed his girlfriend was cheating on him there.

The male victim said that when Hooker came to his door and asked for his girlfriend, he said she wasn’t there, but when Hooker said her car was there, his girlfriend came outside.

The male victim said Hooker hit his girlfriend in the face and yelled at her, so he grabbed a metal baseball bat and swung it at Hooker to stop him from hitting his girlfriend. The male victim said he missed and then he slipped, and Hooker picked up the bat and hit him in the back of the head.

An officer reported that the male victim had a laceration on the back of his head that might require stitches.

The female victim reportedly said that she was at the male victim’s house when Hooker started banging on the door; she said that when she went outside, Hooker and the male victim were arguing, and Hooker did not put his hands on her. She said both of the men were hit with the bat while they were fighting.

Post Miranda, Hooker reportedly said he had tracked his girlfriend’s phone to the male victim’s house, and when the male victim said she was not there, he did not believe him. He said that when his girlfriend came outside, the male victim hit him in the hand with the bat, breaking his hand, and then the male victim hit his right leg with the bat. He said that after that, the two men “started to fight like men with their hands,” and he grabbed the bat from the male victim and hit the male victim in self-defense. He denied hitting the female victim.

Hooker has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and domestic battery. He has juvenile convictions for aggravated assault and burglary from 2013 and 2014 and three convictions for driving without a valid license. Judge David Kreider ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

Hooker was also arrested on a 2025 warrant for allegedly choking a different woman; bail on that charge was set at $15,000.

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.