Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dante Kevin McKeever-Coleman, 17, has been charged as an adult with shooting from a vehicle in Midtown in December 2024.

At about 4:59 p.m. on December 2, 2024, Gainesville Police Department officers responded to the 100 block of NW 10th Street after receiving “numerous” calls about shots fired in the area. Officers reportedly found 27 shell casings between 100 and 200 NW 10th Street, and witnesses said two groups had been shooting at each other in the street. Multiple vehicles (occupied and unoccupied) and an occupied residence were reportedly hit by bullets.

Witnesses reported seeing several people running near the Chevron at 1024 W. University Avenue, and others were seen fleeing north on NW 10th Street in a vehicle.

Video surveillance from the area reportedly showed a vehicle pulling into the Chevron at 4:53 p.m.; the driver and a passenger went inside the store, and then the driver started pumping gas and the passenger returned to his seat. At 4:56 p.m., three black males approached the driver and exchanged words with him and the passenger, and then two of the males walked behind the store, where one male (later identified as the first victim) produced a gun and handed it to another male (later identified as the second victim); the second victim put the gun in his waistband.

At 4:57 p.m., the vehicle drove out of the parking lot and went north on NW 11th Street, with the two victims following on foot; the third male stayed at the store.

About 33 seconds later, gunshots could be heard on the Chevron’s cameras, and 25 seconds after the shots were fired, the second victim was seen running back toward the Chevron while the first victim jumped a fence at the business east of the Chevron and ran across W. University Avenue.

The passenger in the vehicle was identified by a school official as McKeever-Coleman.

In an interview a few days after the shooting, a witness said the vehicle’s passenger said he was “Lil Crack” and appeared to reach for something, making the victims fearful, so they ran behind the store. As the victims followed the vehicle on foot, “Lil Crack” started shooting from the vehicle. One of the victims returned fire, but the witness was adamant that McKeever-Coleman shot first.

Another witness said he saw the vehicle stop in the 200 block of NW 10th Street and saw someone shoot from the vehicle until he was out of bullets; he said the victim shot back, but the shooter in the vehicle shot first. Fifteen shell casings were reportedly found in that area.

About four days after the shooting, the vehicle was located with two bullet impacts on the passenger side; the owner reportedly said he let a friend use it while he was working and was told there was a shooting.

Another witness identified McKeever-Coleman as the person who shot from the vehicle.

McKeever-Coleman was originally charged with two counts of attempted murder, but formal charges of shooting from a vehicle and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent were later filed. McKeever-Coleman has a juvenile conviction from 2023 and is prohibited from possessing a gun until he is 24. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $100,000.

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.