Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Robert Tilson Simmons Jr., 34, was arrested early this morning after allegedly pointing a gun at a stranger behind a bar and then trying to hide the gun from a police officer.

At about 2 a.m., Gainesville Police Department officers responded to the 1700 block of W. University Avenue, where the victim said a man had been yelling at his girlfriend on the phone because they had been on a party bus together and she had left him at the bar. The victim said he told the man, “I don’t know why she left you,” and the man became upset, yelled, “Don’t patronize me,” pulled a pistol from his cross-body sling bag, and pointed the gun at the victim. The victim said he was scared and walked away.

The victim said the man was a black male wearing a blue hat (similar to the team colors of the University of North Carolina), a white shirt, a wicks hairstyle, and a black cross-body sling bag.

An officer saw a gray Mazda sedan stopped on NW 15th Street near NW 5th Avenue and noticed that a man got out of the passenger door and walked westbound on the sidewalk of NW 5th Avenue; the man was a black male with a wicks hairstyle and was wearing a white shirt. The officer activated the lights and siren of a patrol car to stop the man, but the man reportedly walked away.

The man, later identified as Simmons, reportedly walked to a large oak tree, went behind it, and eventually came out from behind the tree with his hands up. The officer patted Simmons down for weapons and explained that he matched the description of a suspect they were looking for; the officer reported that Simmons quickly backed away when he heard that, and fearing he was going to flee, the officer placed Simmons in handcuffs.

An officer walked along Simmons’s path and reportedly found a black cross-body sling bag that contained a Glock 9mm pistol. The officer noted that the grass around the bag was covered with dew, but the bag was “dry and clean,” indicating that it hadn’t been there long.

The victim arrived to identify the suspect, and at first he said he was sure Simmons was the suspect, but a few moments later, he asked where the hat was and then said he was sure Simmons was not the suspect.

An officer later found a light blue hat, the same color as a UNC hat, lying in a small puddle near the intersection of NW 15th Street and NW 5th Avenue, exactly where Simmons had gotten out of the Mazda. The officer reported that the hat “appeared to be mostly clean and new, as if it was recently dropped and not sitting there for too long.”

Post Miranda, Simmons reportedly said he had been behind a bar, waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up; he said he had been yelling at his girlfriend on his phone because they had been on a party bus and she had left him at the bar, but he had not argued with anyone else. He said his girlfriend picked him up, they left the area, and that’s when he was stopped by the officer.

Simmons has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, tampering with evidence, and resisting an officer without violence; he was also booked on warrants for failing to appear at a hearing for a traffic case and violating probation in a drug case. He has juvenile convictions in 2006 and 2007 and one adult felony conviction; he was sentenced to two years of probation in 2022 but has violated his probation multiple times, and a warrant for his arrest was issued in November 2024. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered him held without bail until the probation case is resolved and also ordered him held without bail on the new charges, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

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.