Two arrested in connection with stolen U-Haul and burglary of occupied apartment; one is on probation, and the other was on pre-trial release

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tyquane Sendrell Elmore, 30, and Lee Antwan Williams, 29, were arrested yesterday after Gainesville Police Department officers tracked two suspects from a stolen U-haul truck at Canopy Apartments.

The incident began when an officer got an alert about a stolen U-Haul truck and saw the truck going into Canopy Apartments. He initiated a traffic stop, but the truck reportedly refused to stop and hit two other vehicles while driving through the complex.

The abandoned truck was located in a part of the complex where there was no exit; both the driver and passenger had fled on foot. A citizen told an officer that one suspect had changed his clothes and directed the officer toward the path he had taken. The officer provided a description over the radio and deployed his drone, a K-9 team arrived, and officers set up a perimeter.

The officer found Williams using the drone, and other officers approached Williams and detained him. Williams was arrested on an active warrant for burglary with assault or battery and false imprisonment.

The K-9 team followed the track of the other suspect east into Southern Pines apartments, where the officer found discarded clothing behind a building. A citizen told the officer that they believed the suspect had gone into an apartment, so the officer knocked on the front door of the apartment and made contact with the resident and his guest. They came outside and said the resident had been asleep in the living room when he woke up and saw a man he didn’t know crawling on the floor in his kitchen.

The resident gave the officer consent to go inside the apartment, so the officer gave loud verbal commands, but nobody came out. As she and her K-9 started to enter the apartment, Elmore reportedly came out onto the screened patio and then laid down and crawled out onto the walkway, where he was handcuffed. He was reportedly wearing clothes he had taken from the apartment.

Elmore has been charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling, theft, and resisting arrest. He has four felony convictions and was last arrested on July 24 for shooting at a friend who had given him a place to stay; he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed firearm without a permit, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was initially held on $300,000 bond but was released on his own recognizance on September 2 after 40 days had passed with no formal charges filed. The formal charges were filed on September 20.

Williams was arrested on the warrant and is being held on $500,000 bail. He has 10 felony convictions and was last released from jail on September 14, 2022, after entering a plea of nolo contendere to extortion; he was sentenced to 150 days in jail on September 8, with credit for 119 days served. He is currently on probation in that case.

The theft of the U-Haul is still under investigation, and more charges may be filed in the case.

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.