Gainesville woman arrested for trying to hit man with vehicle and throwing doorbell camera through window

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Shantavia Jermicia Venning, 34, was arrested early this morning after two incidents in which she allegedly accelerated her vehicle toward a man at a family member’s house and later went to his residence and threw a doorbell camera through a window, breaking the window.

A Gainesville Police Department officer reported that at about 9:50 p.m. on May 10, Venning arrived uninvited at the victim’s mother’s house and started arguing with the victim. Venning allegedly accelerated toward the victim’s vehicle, and because Venning was arrested last summer for damaging the victim’s vehicle, the victim stood between Venning’s vehicle and his vehicle; he told the officer that he called 911 after Venning refused to stop trying to hit his vehicle.

A witness reportedly told the officer that the victim was yelling at Venning to stop, and the witness heard the vehicle accelerating toward the victim, who was standing between Venning’s vehicle and his parked vehicle. The witness said Venning tried several times to “run down” the victim with her vehicle before she left.

At about 1 a.m. on May 11, a different officer responded to the victim’s home, where Venning allegedly ripped his doorbell camera off the front door and threw it into a window, breaking the window; the victim was reportedly inside the residence when the camera was thrown into the residence. The victim came outside and argued with Venning, and she allegedly spat on him.

Post Miranda, Venning reportedly said she did not hit the victim. She also said people were lying about the incident at the victim’s mother’s house so the victim could “take” their child, but then she asked for a lawyer. She also reportedly told an officer that she could not have been at the victim’s mother’s house because she only got into town at 9 p.m., but when the officer said the incident occurred after 9 p.m., she reportedly said she went to the victim’s mother’s house to “get closure” about their child before she moved out of Gainesville.

Venning has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, throwing a missile into a building, battery, and misdemeanor property damage. She has one felony conviction; she was arrested in June 2025 for property damage, but the charge was later dropped, and a sworn complaint was filed for domestic battery after a March 2026 incident, but that charge was also dropped. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $110,000.

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