Man arrested for stalking neighbor and child neglect

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Christopher Brandon West, 32, was arrested last night and charged with two counts of aggravated stalking, child neglect without great bodily harm, and resisting an officer without violence after allegedly stalking and threatening to kill a neighbor and leaving his two-year-old alone in his apartment.

At about 9:56 p.m. on Friday night, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to Addison Lane Apartments (4117 SW 20th Avenue), where West was reportedly standing by the victim’s apartment, armed with a knife. The officer reported seeing smashed glass and several broken eggs on the victim’s door.

West allegedly walked away from the officer and threw a knife on the ground; when the officer tried to detain him, he allegedly tried to retreat into an apartment and grabbed a door frame, and the officer reportedly had to force him to the ground to detain him.

The witness reportedly told the officer that she saw West standing outside the victim’s apartment, with his shoes and cell phone on the ground outside the apartment. She said she spoke with West, who said he was waiting for the victim and her family to come home so he could stab the male victim in the heart and kill him. She said West said he didn’t care about going to prison and that he took out a silver knife and extended the blade to demonstrate how he would stab the male victim.

The witness said she was so afraid that she immediately left the area and called the victim to advise her to call the police. She told the officer that West was so angry and irrational that she believed he would attack her if he knew she was a friend of the female victim. She said West was heading back to his apartment when she left, but the officer reportedly found West in front of the apartment when he arrived.

Once West was detained, the victim returned to her apartment and told the officer that West was her neighbor and that she had confronted him about some broken eggs she found on her car. She said West became enraged and argued with her, and she and a male victim left so quickly out of fear that she didn’t have time to lock her apartment. She said West tried to prevent them from leaving by following them and banging on their car as they left the parking lot, and the male victim had to get out of the car and push West away from their vehicle so they could leave. She said she called the witness and asked her to make sure the apartment was still secure and that West did not vandalize it.

The female victim told the officer there had been several “bizarre” interactions with West over the past two months and that it started when West first moved in and his cats got too close to the victim’s dog. The male victim said West called him derogatory names, and since then, West has been watching them “at all hours of the night.” The male victim said he had seen West watching him while sitting in his car and that other neighbors had said West was watching them.

The officer reportedly found a two-year-old child unattended inside West’s apartment; West allegedly left the child alone “the entire time [he] was attacking and threatening [the two victims] and waiting for them to return home.”

Post Miranda, West reportedly said he had thrown eggs at the victim’s door.

West has two local misdemeanors (non-violent) from 2013. Judge Kristine Van Vorst ordered him held without bail.

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.