Contributed by the Staff

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Twenty-one-year-old Timothy Dewayne Means Jr. has been moved from incarceration to confront allegations stemming from a 2023 incident where he reportedly brandished a firearm at a woman.

On August 31, 2023, deputies from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a Holly Heights apartment. The woman involved claimed Means pointed a gun at her following a dispute between them.

She gave a detailed description of Means and indicated he had entered a nearby apartment. Acting on this information, deputies approached the specified location and instructed the residents to exit.

Among the three individuals who emerged was Means, donning attire that matched the victim’s description.

A resident gave consent for a search of the apartment, and a loaded 9mm Taurus G3 was reportedly found in the open drawer of an oven.

The firearm was collected because all three of the occupants of the apartment were prohibited from possessing firearms, but no charges were filed at the time.

The firearm was processed by forensics, and it was found that it had been used in a previous shooting in Majestic Oaks.

In April 2024, Means was arrested on new charges, and while he was in the Alachua County Jail, a DNA warrant was obtained and a sample was collected. A post-Miranda interview was also conducted at that time, and Means reportedly denied any involvement in the August 2023 incident and denied possessing any firearms.

In August 2025, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported that DNA swabs collected from the pistol were matched to the samples collected from Means. Formal charges were filed and a warrant was issued in September 2025, and the State Attorney’s Office requested in early December that Means be transported from state prison to the Alachua County Jail to face the charges.

Means has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent (a juvenile adjudicated guilty of a charge that would be a felony for an adult). He has juvenile convictions between 2014 and 2021, along with five adult felony convictions (one violent) and two misdemeanor convictions (non-violent); he is currently serving three concurrent five-year sentences in state prison for drug trafficking, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and aggravated battery of a pregnant victim. Bail has been set at $250,000 on the new charges, but Means must finish his prison sentence (May 2029) before posting bail.

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.