Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Makhai Norad Carter, 18, who was arrested on July 20 and charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, has now been charged with five felonies related to an armed robbery on June 29 at Madison Cove Apartments.

At about 4 a.m. on June 29, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to reports of shots fired at Madison Cove Apartments (5500 SW Archer Road). Deputies found ten .40 caliber shell casings in front of building I and several bullet holes in the walls and doors of one apartment in that building. Several bullets reportedly traveled through the door and hit walls and other objects inside the apartment.

Deputies learned that there had been a small party in a nearby apartment, and witnesses said there had been some sort of disturbance inside the apartment.

Through follow-up interviews with people at the party, a deputy located one of the victims, who reportedly said Carter and a juvenile who is not currently in custody came to the apartment with guns, locked the front door, demanded that the victim give them money, and took a gun from his friend.

The first victim said he did not have cash, so the two suspects told him to send money to their Cash App; he said he had $140 in his Cash App account, and they made him send the money, but he was able to quickly turn off his cellular data so that the transaction did not go through.

The first victim said his friend ran out of the apartment and yelled that they had been robbed, but someone in the parking lot shot at Carter and Carter shot back. The two suspects reportedly got into a car and left.

The second victim reportedly provided video starting at 4:20 a.m., when she heard loud voices and got out of bed in the apartment where the incident occurred. A second video at 4:23 a.m. reportedly shows her running back into the bedroom and leaving again; male voices can be heard yelling in the background.

The second victim said both suspects pointed their guns at her when she entered the room and told her to get into the corner; she said she was in fear for her life. She said the juvenile suspects searched the first victim’s friend and took a gun from him and that after the victim and his friend ran out of the front door, she hid in her closet and heard gunshots.

Post Miranda, Carter reportedly denied at first that he was at Madison Cove at the time of the shooting, but once he was told that other people had named him as being there, he reportedly admitted being there. He said the first victim had stolen money from someone, and he went there to get the money back; he said he and the juvenile suspect were “pressing” the first victim to send money on Cash App. He reportedly said he was trying to get the first victim to send the money to the second victim, but both victims denied this and said the first victim was told to send money to the juvenile suspect.

Carter reportedly said that he locked the doors and prevented the first victim and his friend from leaving until the money was paid; he said the juvenile suspect took a gun from the first victim but said it did not have a magazine.

Carter reportedly denied at first that he had a gun, but he said the first victim appeared to be in fear; he later admitted that he had a gun in the front of the waistband of his pants and that he knew the first victim could see it.

Carter reportedly said that the Cash App transaction did not go through, so he let the first victim and his friend leave, but someone in the parking lot started shooting at him as soon as he opened the apartment door, and he shot back twice.

Carter reportedly said he went to a lake after the incident and threw the gun in the water because he had shot it and was afraid law enforcement would be able to trace the gun back to him.

Carter has been charged with armed robbery, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, tampering with evidence, and using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

Carter has an unspecified juvenile conviction and no adult convictions. His bail on the previous charges was $45,000, and Judge Kristine Van Vorst added $200,000 on three of the charges and ordered him held without bond on the armed robbery and aggravated assault charges, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial.

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.