Ocala man arrested for battering victim and stealing his gun in Midtown in December 2025

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Corey Jarrell Tavares Rocker, 26, of Ocala, was arrested yesterday on a warrant for allegedly battering a man and stealing his gun after the victim accidentally spit on him during a December 2025 incident in Midtown.

At about 1:50 a.m. on December 26, 2025, Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers responded to the parking lot between Checkers and Gyros (826 W. University Avenue), where the victim said he was standing there with a small group of friends when he turned his head to spit and accidentally spit on Rocker, who was walking behind him.

Rocker reportedly became upset, and words were exchanged before Rocker walked away.

A few seconds later, a second suspect approached the victim and said something, and the victim reportedly held his hands up “in a non-confrontational manner”; Rocker was still reportedly angry.

A GPD detective reported that surveillance video shows Rocker punching the victim in the face and knocking him to the ground; as the victim starts to get up, “clearly dazed from being struck,” Rocker produces something from his pocket that appears to be a weapon. Rocker reportedly closes the distance between himself and the victim while the victim tries to back away; the victim still has his hands raised, and Rocker is holding the victim in the waist area.

The detective reported that the video shows the third suspect walking up, “clearly seeing what is happening,” and then starting to act as a lookout. The second suspect stands behind the victim to keep him from escaping and to intimidate him into cooperating with Rocker. The third suspect also stands behind the victim “in order to intimidate the [victim] into complying during the robbery and preventing his escape.”

The victim told the officer that his firearm was in his waistband and that Rocker took it; the officer reported that the actions of the three suspects on video “are consistent with them robbing the [victim] of his firearm.”

After the incident, the three suspects reportedly ran to a vehicle registered to the second suspect and drove away.

A detective identified Rocker and the second suspect as two of the individuals involved in this incident, and he reported that cell phone records show both of them in the area of the incident at the time of the robbery, although both of them live in Ocala.

The detective reported that the victim has a lump inside his lip, consistent with a permanent scar from being punched.

Rocker has been charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery with bodily harm, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He has at least five felonies (two violent) out of Marion County and was released from prison on November 1, 2025, after serving a five-year sentence. Judge James Colaw issued a warrant for his arrest on April 7 and ordered him held without bail until trial.

Charges for the second suspect are pending; the third suspect has not been identified in any public documents.

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