GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Deron Cortez Williams, 15, has been charged as an adult in connection with an armed robbery, a vehicle burglary and the theft of a vehicle.
Armed robbery
On July 28, Gainesville Police Department officers responded to Mill Run Apartments at 2313 SW 39th Way after a woman reported that she had arranged through Instagram to sell a shirt and two jackets. The prospective buyer directed her to the apartment complex, where she saw two males near dumpsters behind the buildings. The males said they were there to purchase the clothing. The victim reported that one of them, later identified as Williams, approached the driver’s side of her vehicle while the other, identified as 17-year-old Keshawn Ferguson, “remained nearby acting as a lookout.”
As the victim showed Williams the clothing, he allegedly lifted his shirt, drew a handgun, pointed it at her and said, “Give me everything you’ve got.”
The victim said she handed over the clothing, after which both males walked away. They then reportedly turned around, and Williams allegedly pointed the gun at the victim and her passenger again while asking whether they had money. When the victim replied that she had no cash, the two males ran through the rear of the apartment complex.
Police later recovered a plastic bag containing the clothing. Surveillance footage along the suspected escape route reportedly showed two males entering Senor Bubbles, at 4080 SW 24th Avenue, about an hour before the robbery. The victim identified the two people shown in that footage as the robbery suspects.
Investigators used facial-recognition software to identify Ferguson. A subpoena to Instagram produced a phone number linked to the account that arranged the clothing purchase, and that number was associated with Williams’ mother.
Vehicle burglary and theft
On August 4, an officer investigating a stolen Honda Civic reviewed license-plate reader data showing the vehicle traveling south on SW 23rd Drive from SW Archer Road at approximately 12:58 p.m. It was then recorded heading east on Archer Road around 1:08 p.m. Based on the vehicle’s route and the timing, the officer went to the Wawa at 2373 SW Archer Road and requested surveillance footage.
The video reportedly showed the Civic arriving at a gas pump at about 1 p.m. Two Black males who appeared to be juveniles exited the vehicle. Investigators later identified the driver as Williams and the passenger as Ferguson.
At approximately 1:03 p.m., the two juveniles entered the Wawa and gave a clerk about $4 in change to purchase gas.
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A short time later, the same officer responded to an unrelated call near Woodland Park Apartments, where she saw the two juveniles. She requested backup and monitored them until additional officers arrived. Both were detained without incident.
Williams reportedly directed officers to an area near SE 22nd Street and SE 2nd Avenue, where they recovered the Civic.
A search of Ferguson’s backpack reportedly uncovered a Taurus G2c handgun that had been reported stolen from a vehicle on July 26, 2026. Ferguson reportedly told investigators that he had found the gun near Woodland Park Apartments.
According to investigators, Williams’ GPS monitor placed him at the armed-robbery scene on July 28 and showed him traveling south afterward. The monitor also placed him at Senor Bubbles before the robbery. On July 31, it reportedly showed him at the exact location of the residence where the Taurus handgun was stolen. The GPS data also placed him at the Wawa on Archer Road from approximately 1 p.m. to 1:07 p.m. on August 4, matching the gas station’s surveillance footage.
After being read his Miranda rights, Williams reportedly acknowledged that he was present during the armed robbery but said he did not know it was going to happen. He told investigators that he saw Ferguson meet with the victim and heard her scream, then watched Ferguson take the clothing. Williams said he ran when the victim began screaming and later saw Ferguson wearing the stolen items.
Williams also reportedly said that he and Ferguson were at Canopy Apartments, 4400 SW 20th Avenue, on the day the Civic was stolen. He said they needed transportation to return to their residence and entered a vehicle after finding its keys inside. They drove the Civic to the 2200 block of E. University Avenue, left it there and took a bus to Woodland Park Apartments. Williams said the keys had been in the Civic’s cupholder.
After receiving his Miranda warning, Ferguson reportedly said he and Williams found the Civic unlocked and entered it, although he could not remember where. During a second interview, Ferguson reportedly admitted to breaking into a vehicle and finding the Taurus handgun inside its glove compartment.
Ferguson has been charged as an adult in connection with the Civic theft, but he has not been charged in the armed robbery case.
Williams faces charges of armed robbery, using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony, grand theft of a motor vehicle and burglary of an unoccupied vehicle. His juvenile record reportedly began when he was 11, and he was on probation during these incidents for inciting a riot, battery on detention staff and battery on a detainee. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered Williams held without bail pending a hearing on a State Attorney’s Office motion seeking to keep him jailed without bail through trial. If the motion is denied, bail will be determined at that hearing.
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