Gainesville man arrested for threatening to shoot four people with short-barreled rifle

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – James Brown Johnson, Jr., 32, was arrested last night and charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a short-barreled rifled after allegedly threatening to shoot four people.

The four victims told a Gainesville Police Department officer that Johnson kept reaching toward his waistband during a verbal argument with them at his residence in Cypress Glen Apartments. One of the victims told the officer that Johnson is known to carry a handgun, but none of the victims saw a handgun at that point. They said Johnson retreated to the bedroom and came back with a short-barreled rifle and pointed it at one of the victims, who told the other three victims to get out of the residence. That victim told the officer that Johnson chambered a round into the rifle, then followed the victims outside, pointed the rifle at them, and threatened to shoot them. The victims reportedly said that Johnson said he would “spray them all” and “leave them on the ground, wet, for the police to find, if they called.”

Post Miranda, Johnson reportedly said he had been arguing with one of the victims, and then the other three victims arrived. He said one of the victims advanced toward him because he wouldn’t take his hand out of his waistband, but he said he didn’t have a gun on his person at that time. He said he went into the bedroom and took his rifle out of the closet, then pointed it at the ground while yelling, “Leave me alone!” He said he did not chamber a round because there was already a round in the chamber.

The officer reported that Johnson was detained a short distance from the apartment with a semi-automatic handgun and a short-barreled (about 8 inches) .223 semi-automatic rifle. One of the victims had indicated that the short-barreled rifle had a pistol grip, but the officer reported that it had a fixed stock and did not have a pistol grip.

Johnson has no criminal history. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial.

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.