Man in jail since July charged in second shooting case

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Austin Gregory Dow, 23, was charged yesterday with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a sworn complaint filed in July. Dow has been in the Alachua County Jail without bond since July 17 on attempted murder charges after allegedly shooting into a downtown crowd.

The new charges stem from a March 14 incident in which Dow allegedly shot at a man who was trying to buy drugs from him. The victim said Dow posted a Facebook video on March 13 showing that he had baby bottles filled with a green liquid substance known as “lean,” a drink made with promethazine. The victim agreed to meet Dow at Hideaway Apartments (formerly known as Campus Lodge) to buy the substance, and Dow reportedly gave the victim a baby bottle almost full of the green liquid.

The victim told a Gainesville Police Department officer that he stayed in his car while Dow brought him the baby bottle. He said that he told Dow the liquid did not look as thick as it should have been, so Dow offered to go get another bottle and pour the liquid from one bottle to the other so the victim could see it was as thick as it should be. Dow went back toward one of the buildings in the complex, leaving the victim with the bottle.

The victim told the officer that he got nervous when Dow was gone longer than he thought he should have been and began to turn his car around to leave, but then he saw Dow approaching and feared for his life, so he began to drive away. He said he heard something hit the front driver’s side window, then saw Dow running alongside his car and sped up. He said he heard gunshots, and the driver’s side window shattered. He then crashed into a parked, occupied car and then fled on foot, leaving the baby bottle behind. An officer later determined that Dow shot at the victim at least six times and the car was struck at least four times, but the victim was not hit by any bullets.

Responding officers reported that they found a trail of green fluid from the victim’s car to a building in the complex and found a cell phone on the ground. The cell phone was later found to belong to Dow, and a Facebook search warrant for the victim’s account reportedly produced his conversation with Dow.

The sworn complaint originally charged Dow with attempted first-degree murder, but he was formally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on December 2. He has eight felony convictions in addition to a juvenile history. He has served two state prison terms and was last released from prison in December of 2021. Dow was already being held without bond on the previous attempted murder charge; Judge Kristine Van Vorst added $300,000 bail on the new charges.

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.