Gainesville man arrested for threatening woman with gun in parking lot

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jovani Luis Lopez, 21, was arrested early yesterday morning for allegedly threatening a woman with a gun in the parking lot of the Taco Bell on SW 13th Street.

At about 12:30 a.m. on August 22, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to Taco Bell (1515 SW 13th Street), where the victim said Lopez had brandished a pistol and threatened to shoot her.

The victim said she was inside the Taco Bell when she saw Lopez and a woman enter; she said she recognized the woman because she and the woman had an ongoing disagreement about another man, so she went to her car to get her phone and Facetime with her sister to show her that the woman was at Taco Bell.

The victim said that when she re-entered the business, Lopez and the woman were gone, but she saw them again when she left the business. She said Lopez told her that if she put her hands on the woman, he would “pop” her, and he started reaching for his waistband as if he had a gun.

The victim said she walked toward her vehicle, and Lopez and the woman walked in the other direction toward Lopez’s vehicle; she said Lopez started yelling at her to come to his vehicle, and when she refused, Lopez drove toward her, lowered the window, and brandished a gun with a green laser pointed at the center of her chest before driving away. The victim said she was afraid for her life and thought she was going to die.

Based on a photo of Lopez’s car and tag, officers conducted a felony stop on Lopez’s car at the intersection of NW 34th Street and NW 8th Avenue. The officers reported finding a handgun in the trunk with a green laser.

The woman who was with Lopez reportedly told an officer that she and Lopez were doing a DoorDash delivery, and she said the victim started taking video of them at Taco Bell. She said they interacted with the victim again outside Taco Bell after they left, and the victim said she would slap the woman if she saw her, and then the victim said she would fight her in the future. She said Lopez and the victim argued, and then they all walked toward their vehicles. She said Lopez drove to where the victim was standing and started yelling at her while waving a handgun, and then the victim saw the handgun and told Lopez he was going to jail. She said they drove away from the Taco Bell, and a short distance away, Lopez stopped at a red light, got out of his vehicle, and told her he had to put something in the trunk.

Post Miranda, Lopez reportedly said the victim had threatened to fight the woman, so he told her she was not going to touch the woman and that she should go get her boyfriend. They continued arguing as they walked to their vehicles, and he said he drove to the victim’s vehicle and told her he’d better not see her or her boyfriend in the city. He denied brandishing a gun or threatening the victim with a gun; he admitted to owning a firearm with a laser but said it was in the trunk the whole time. When an officer asked him how the victim knew he had a gun with a green laser, he said it was from social media.

Lopez has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He has one previous local arrest, a 2024 case in which adjudication of guilt was withheld after he pled nolo contendere to disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence. Judge Adam Lee 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.

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.