GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A 16-year-old Gainesville teen, Peter L. Roman III, is facing adult charges after police say he opened fire at a male outside Lewis Place Apartments on August 7. Roman has been charged with attempted homicide and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent.
According to the Gainesville Police Department, officers were called to Lewis Place Apartments at 4121 NE 15th Street around 7:25 p.m. after reports of gunfire. When they arrived, they found two victims, including one person who had been grazed in the cheek by a bullet.
The victims told investigators they had been standing outside Building 1 when a white Nissan sedan pulled into the apartment complex parking lot. They said one occupant got out and approached them, later referenced as the first witness, while Roman was allegedly seated in the front passenger seat. The victims also identified the driver and a back-seat passenger, later referenced as the second witness.
One victim told police that he and the other victim began walking toward the vehicle because they planned to “go smoke,” but the car then pulled away. As it left, he said Roman, who is also known as “P3,” leaned out of the front passenger-side window and fired several shots at them with a handgun. The victim reported that one of the rounds grazed his cheek.
The second victim told officers he did not see who fired the gun, but he confirmed that he knew the three males who were inside the vehicle at the time of the shooting.
The first witness reportedly said the two victims were standing in the breezeway of an apartment building when they drove into the parking lot, and Roman told the first witness he “need[ed] to pick a side.” He said he saw Roman rack a gun, and he got out of the car. He said he saw Roman fire multiple rounds in the direction of the victims as the car left the parking lot; he also said that the three occupants of the car put on ski masks just before the shooting.
Another witness at the scene reportedly confirmed the identities of the car’s occupants.
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Officers reportedly found six .45-caliber bullets near the front entrance of the apartment complex; they did not find any impacts to buildings or vehicles.
Surveillance video reportedly showed a black male leaning out of the front passenger-side window of the white sedan as the car drove out of the parking lot and then pointing the gun at the victims.
After the shooting, Roman and the driver reportedly made several phone calls to their respective parents, and they refused to return to the scene to speak with officers.
The second witness reportedly said he saw the first victim pull out a handgun with a purple laser and then point the gun at the sedan; he said the driver took a pistol from his waistband, racked the slide, and handed the pistol to Roman. The witness said the first victim returned his pistol to his waistband but continued walking toward the sedan, and Roman told the driver to “pull out,” so they began driving out of the parking lot. He said Roman started shooting from the passenger side of the building, and then they drove to Santa Fe Oaks Apartments (8203 NW 31st Avenue), where the sedan was later found by Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies.
On August 11, Roman was interviewed, and post Miranda, he reportedly said that as the driver sped out of the apartment complex, he handed Roman a black Glock and told him to fire it. He said he aimed the pistol at the victims and fired multiple shots in their direction; he said they drove to Santa Fe Oaks Apartments, where the driver asked for his pistol back. He said he only shot the gun because the driver told him to.
Roman has been charged with attempted second-degree murder with a firearm and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent. According to court documents, he has an “extensive” juvenile history, including convictions for attempted burglary of an unoccupied vehicle and resisting an officer without violence. Judge Joy Danne set bail at $600,000, the amount set by Judge James Colaw in his order transferring Roman to the adult criminal court.