High Springs man sentenced to three years in prison for shooting a man who siphoned gas from his car

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jonathan Velez-Rodriguez, 37, has been sentenced to three years in prison, followed by two years of probation, after entering a plea of nolo contendere to aggravated battery for shooting a man who siphoned gas from his car.

At about 7:07 a.m. on September 27, 2024, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to a call about a shooting and found the victim with a gunshot wound to the thigh. Three shell casings were found in the roadway of the 1400 block of SW 18th Place.

The victim reportedly said he had run out of gas and could not find any open stations because of the hurricane, so he decided to siphon gas from a vehicle in the parking lot of the Days Inn (1901 SW 13th Street). He said the owner of the car asked him what he was doing, so he walked away. He said Velez-Rodriguez followed him in his vehicle, so he ran across SW 13th Street and onto SW 18th Place. He heard shots and realized he had been shot in the thigh; he said Velez-Rodriguez was about 20-30 feet away from him when he fired the gun.

The responding officer contacted Velez-Rodriguez near his vehicle, and Velez-Rodriguez reportedly said, “It’s me… I’m who you’re looking for… I messed up.” When the officer asked him what happened, Velez-Rodriguez reportedly said, “I walked out and he was siphoning gas from my car.” When the officer asked whether he had any weapons on him, he said the gun was in his car.

Post Miranda, Velez-Rodriguez reportedly said he had seen the victim trying to steal gas from his vehicle, so he went back into his motel room to get his keys and then drove around, looking for the victim. He saw the victim crossing SW 13th Street, and when he drove onto SW 18th Place, he said, he took his gun from the glove box and shot out the window. He said he thought he shot twice and that he had been about 30 yards from the victim. He said he intended to scare the victim and did not intend to shoot him; he said he shot out of frustration and wasn’t trying to kill the victim.

The officer found the gun in the glove box of Velez-Rodriguez’s vehicle; the caliber of the ammunition in the gun matched the casings found in the roadway.

Velez-Rodriguez was released on $50,000 bail after about 11 days in jail, and he entered a plea on November 20 and was sentenced by Judge Robert Groeb.