Gainesville man charged with shooting into vehicle on Archer Road

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Roman Tevarez Carter, 26, was arrested yesterday and charged with attempted murder and other felonies after allegedly shooting into a vehicle at an Archer Road intersection.

At about 2:24 p.m. on July 5, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to calls about shots fired at the intersection of SW Archer Road and SW 40th Boulevard.

According to a witness who was in her vehicle directly behind the victim’s vehicle, a maroon Charger was in the lane next to the victim’s vehicle and the two drivers seemed to be arguing. She said she turned down her music to hear what they were saying and heard the driver of the maroon Charger say something like, “I’ve done been to your house” and “I’ve been in your house.”

The witness said she heard six or seven shots and saw the driver of the maroon Charger holding a gun and shooting directly into the victim’s vehicle. She then saw the maroon Charger drive into the parking lot of the Circle K at the intersection, where the driver got out of the car with a gun in his hand and started walking toward the victim’s vehicle. The witness captured the tag on the maroon Charger when it drove through the Circle K’s parking lot.

A second witness had an unobstructed view across the intersection and reportedly saw the driver of the maroon Charger lean out of his vehicle and shoot at the victim’s vehicle.

The officer reviewed surveillance video from the Circle K and reported that the victim’s vehicle could be seen in the westbound turn lane at the intersection, a maroon Charger pulled into the outside lane next to the victim’s vehicle, and the victim lowered his passenger-side window and appeared to be interacting with the driver of the maroon Charger. The shooting could not be seen on the video, but the officer reported that bystanders reacted in a manner consistent with the sound of gunfire. The maroon Charger could be seen quickly turning into the Circle K parking lot, where the driver got out of the vehicle and walked toward the victim’s vehicle with something in his right hand that appeared to be a firearm. The victim’s vehicle drove away eastbound on SW Archer Road (he reportedly drove himself to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds), and the maroon Charger drove away in the same direction as the victim’s vehicle.

The officer reported that the tag captured by the first witness is registered to Roman Carter, and a traffic camera captured his vehicle traveling eastbound on SW Archer Road in the area of the intersection at 2:24 p.m.

The man seen on the Circle K video reportedly matched Carter’s driver’s license photo and his skin complexion, hair, and facial hair.

Witnesses also mentioned a green Challenger that was directly behind the maroon Charger during the incident and followed the maroon Charger into the Circle K parking lot. The green Challenger’s tag is reportedly registered to Roman Carter’s brother; that vehicle also appears on traffic cameras in the area of the intersection at the time of the incident.

A search warrant for the victim’s phone was executed and reportedly produced a text he sent about five minutes before the shooting that said, “Roman Travez Carter.” The victim also reportedly sent photos of the maroon Charger while it was following him on SW 40th Boulevard. The officer wrote that she believed the victim sent that text to document his belief that Carter was following him.

The victim reportedly said he had been driving on SW 34th Street when he realized he was being followed by a red car and a green car. Around the 3500 block of SW 34th Street, he said, he “brake-checked” the maroon Charger to see if they were pursuing him, and the maroon Charger hit the rear of his vehicle and continued following him. He said the Charger followed him for about nine miles before they entered SW 40th Boulevard, and when the Charger pulled up next to him at the intersection, he could not see who shot him. He said he knew Carter and had sent Carter’s name to a friend because he felt like the vehicle was Carter’s, but he could not explain why Carter would want to shoot him and did not say Carter was the shooter.

The officer reported that the victim’s vehicle had 11 bullet holes, “indicating a clear intent to kill him,” and the shooting also endangered “numerous” people in their cars in the area.

Carter has been charged with attempted homicide, firing a missile into a vehicle, and discharging a firearm from a vehicle. He has no criminal convictions, and Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $300,000 on the second and third charges and ordered him held without bail on the attempted homicide charge, 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.