Homeless man charged with chasing 12-year-old girl with scissors, threatening to kill two women

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Shahiem Leron Bush, 20, was arrested yesterday after allegedly chasing a 12-year-old girl with scissors and then threatening to kill two women in the Highland Court Manor neighborhood.

At about 7:37 p.m. on April 3, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to the 1000 block of NE 31st Avenue, where a 12-year-old girl said Bush told her to run before chasing her down NE 31st Avenue. The girl’s mother and a second woman told the officer that when the girl reached them and told them what had happened, they saw Bush running down the street with a pair of scissors in his hand.

The women said that when Bush reached them, he said he would “kill them all” while holding the scissors.

The officer reported that he found Bush in the area and that the victims positively identified him as the man who had threatened them. The officer reportedly found a pair of white scissors across the street.

The officer reported that Bush said he had smoked spice earlier in the day; according to the officer, Bush was “not acting normal and was not making sense.” Bush was reportedly unable to answer any questions post Miranda “due to [his] behavior.”

Bush has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. He has juvenile convictions in 2022 and 2023 but no adult convictions. Bush’s address is listed as GRACE Marketplace, but he was arrested in February 2025 for trespassing at GRACE after he was asked to leave. An expert was hired to evaluate his competency to stand trial in that case, and although the court docket does not show the result of the evaluation, the charge was dropped the same day the competency evaluation report was filed.

Judge David Kreider ordered Bush held without bail on the new charges pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial.

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.