Gainesville woman arrested for pepper-spraying Walmart employee who tried to stop her from stealing cart full of merchandise

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Quinnetta Lashara Quinn, 38, was arrested yesterday for allegedly pepper-spraying a Walmart employee who tried to stop her from stealing a cart full of merchandise in November.

A Gainesville Police Department officer reported that at 7:50 p.m. on November 20, a Walmart Loss Prevention Officer (LPO) said a woman tried to leave the northwest Walmart (5700 NW 23rd Street) with a cart of stolen merchandise. When the LPO tried to stop her, the woman sprayed the LPO three times in the face with pepper spray; the woman and the LPO struggled over the cart and the merchandise, and the woman ran out of the store with the cart and got into a waiting van, leaving the merchandise in the cart.

The LPO took a picture of the van and its tag.

Walmart surveillance video reportedly showed the woman entering the store at 7:26 p.m. and then selecting 16 items of clothing and a loaf of bread valued at $185. The woman pushed the cart past all the registers and tried to leave the store without paying, but the LPO confronted her in the front vestibule of the store.

Surveillance video reportedly showed the woman walking toward the LPO with her hand raised and something in her hand.

The LPO said the woman told her, “You better not come over here… I’m going to spray you” and then sprayed her with pepper spray. The LPO said she tried to remove items from the cart, but the woman overpowered her and took the cart out of the store with a few items in it. However, the van drove away as soon as the woman got in, so she was not able to take the items from the cart; all of the items were recovered.

The detective identified the woman as Quinn using the tag on the van, pictures of her face, and her tattoos. The detective also found a photo of Quinn on Facebook in which she was wearing the same leopard print headband worn by the suspect.

Quinn has been charged with armed robbery (with a weapon other than a firearm) and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon; she is also facing a sworn complaint for burglary with battery, burglary of a vehicle, battery, and grand theft from a November 16 incident. She has seven felony convictions (two violent) and 18 misdemeanor convictions (two violent) and has served three state prison sentences, with her most recent release in 2022. A sworn complaint was also filed against her for a January 2024 incident in which she allegedly threatened four juveniles with a taser at a bus stop, but those charges were later dropped.

Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered her held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold her 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.