Homeless man on probation arrested for attacking stranger on RTS bus
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kishon Marquis Jones, 32, was arrested yesterday for allegedly attacking a woman he didn’t know on an RTS bus.
At about 1:32 p.m. on July 27, Gainesville Police Department officers responded to the 1500 block of North Main Street, where the victim had followed Jones off the bus.
A witness reportedly said he was riding an RTS bus when Jones began acting erratically, yelling and threatening the other passengers. He said Jones charged at the victim and started hitting her.
A second witness reportedly said Jones had been yelling at him and asking him to fight, but the witness ignored him. He said Jones then ran toward the victim, punched her, pulled her weave off her head, and continued hitting her.
The officer reported that four other people on the bus corroborated the victim’s account, but they did not want to be listed as witnesses.
The victim said she did not know the man who started yelling at her and then pulled the weave off her head and started hitting her. She said she deployed pepper spray to defend herself and then followed Jones off the bus while calling 911.
The officer reported that the victim suffered minor injuries to her head, neck, and arms.
Jones, whose address is listed as GRACE Marketplace, has been charged with misdemeanor battery. He is designated as a Violent Felony Offender of Special Concern and has 10 felony convictions (two violent) and 22 misdemeanor convictions (three violent); he has served four state prison sentences, with his most recent release on June 1, 2026, and he is on probation for burglary, battery, and theft. Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $25,000.
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.
The city wants more bus riders yet they continue to ignore homeless crime at bus stops and now on a bus. Can the commissioners even once tell the public their plan for eliminating homeless crime and then post stats on it, like any competent organization would do?
I keep hoping one of the commissioners get to experience first hand what these other victims experience—maybe then they’ll convince their fellow idiots to turn off the vacancy signs.
I wonder if he is a Corrine Brown’s relative… His bond is set way too low.
This guy has 32 convictions and been in prison four times. I think prison is his home and freedom is his own personal prison.
This scary and very unsafe. I hope he’s returned to prison!
Are they still giving free bus passes as a benefit to people staying at Grace Marketplace? Maybe the buses will be safer to ride if they stopped that practice…
Gainesville keeps taking parking spaces and driving lanes away, trying to increase RTS ridership, but all that approach does for me is keep me away from Gainesville businesses unless they have parking. I would not feel safe at a bus stop or on a bus.
I feel bad for people who don’t have other options, and I feel bad for businesses who are losing customers due to the City’s poor planning.
Well said…..Insightful, and clear…..Mom knows!
That makes me desire standing in the sun/rain with the smell of urine at at downtown bus stop in order to be assaulted once on-board….
10 felony convictions (two violent) and 22 misdemeanor convictions (three violent); he has served four state prison sentences, with his most recent release on June 1, 2026….???? Almost made it 8 weeks. What does the state think will happen. The man is incorrigible and unemployable and has no hope on the outside without family/friends to assist…..Then there is Grace….
So now look what they done to their own constituents. The buses aren’t safe for the rest of us now.
The number of homeless people committing violent crimes in Gainesville is unacceptable. This needs to be stopped. I have faith in our boys in blue.