Homeless man arrested for making threats to kill ex-girlfriend

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Willie Taiwan Rollins Jr., 33, was arrested yesterday on a warrant for allegedly making written threats to kill his ex-girlfriend.

The responding Gainesville Police Department officer reported that on June 22, the victim received 47 phone calls from Rollins and three text messages that included threats to kill her; the victim also received a voicemail from Rollins, saying he had been to the victim’s home and was going to come back and kill her.

The victim has been reporting similar incidents since January 2026, including written threats on June 12 and June 13, and on June 22, Rollins allegedly wrote he was going to “put u in da grave yard” and “kill you.”

The officer called Rollins and spoke to him briefly, and then Rollins reportedly sent the victim a text about a minute later from the same number with a threat to “smoke yo mf bootz,” which the victim understood as a threat to shoot her.

Rollins also allegedly sent a voicemail to the victim’s daughter, telling her he had been to the victim’s home that day; he told the daughter to tell the victim that Rollins would be back later to kill her.

The officer reported that the threats are credible because Rollins knows where the victim lives and works.

Rollins, who is described as homeless in the arrest report, has been charged with domestic aggravated stalking and making a written threat to kill. He has six felony convictions (three violent) and 10 misdemeanor convictions (non-violent); he has served four state prison sentences and was most recently released in 2024. A similar sworn complaint was filed in January 2026, charging Rollins with aggravated stalking and making a written threat to kill the same victim, but the charges were later dropped. Rollins is also facing two sworn complaints for domestic stalking against the same victim and a separate case in which he allegedly jumped out of a bush at a different victim while holding a gun; he allegedly broke that victim’s window but ran away when he heard officers arriving.

Judge Joy Danne ordered him held without bail, as set by Judge James Colaw in Rollins’s arrest warrant.

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.