Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Deven Jarod Suttle, 33, was arrested yesterday for allegedly threatening another man with a gun on a NE Waldo Road sidewalk.

At about 11:46 a.m. on July 1, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to the 600 block of NE Waldo Road, where the victim said he and Suttle had gotten into an argument earlier in the day at Sweetwater Square (3101 NE 15th Street). The victim said he left the apartment complex and walked to Waldo Road, where he encountered Suttle in a vehicle. He said Suttle sped up, pulled onto the west sidewalk of NE Waldo Road, and blocked his path while banging a pistol on the side of the vehicle.

The victim said the pistol made him afraid for his safety, so he ran east across NE Waldo Road and was nearly hit by vehicles as he ran. He said that when he reached the east side of the road, he saw that Suttle had run around his vehicle and was standing on the sidewalk on the west side of the road with his pistol at his side. He said he yelled to Suttle to put the gun away and ran into the woods. The victim said the gun was a semi-automatic pistol, dark in color, with an extended magazine.

Officers checked traffic cameras and reportedly saw Suttle’s vehicle heading east on NE 8th Avenue, away from Waldo Road, about a minute after the incident.

Officers also reviewed surveillance video at Sweetwater Square and reportedly saw Suttle getting out of the vehicle holding a backpack and then concealing something that appeared to be a firearm in the backpack.

Suttle was located at Sweetwater Square, and post Miranda, he reportedly said he and the victim had argued earlier in the day and had both charged at each other but were stopped by law enforcement officers who were at the apartment complex. He said his girlfriend needed items from the store and was scared to go to the store herself, so he drove to NE Waldo Road, where he saw the victim on the west side sidewalk.

Suttle reportedly said he confronted the victim by getting out of the vehicle to speak to him, but the victim ran across the road to the east. He said he left in his vehicle to go to the store and then went back to Sweetwater Square.

When asked if he owned a firearm with an extended magazine, Suttle reportedly said he did, and he admitted he’d had the gun in the vehicle when he confronted the victim on NE Waldo Road; however, he denied threatening the victim with the gun. Suttle reportedly said the victim knew he had a gun and was able to describe it because he’d seen it before.

A firearm with an extended magazine was reportedly found inside Suttle’s apartment in the backpack that Suttle was seen holding on surveillance video.

Suttle has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He has no criminal convictions; he was arrested in June 2023 and charged with marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a concealed firearm without a permit, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, but that case has disappeared from the court records website. Judge Kristine Van Vorst set bail at $25,000 and prohibited him from possessing any weapons.

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.