Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Eric Jermaine Williams, Jr., 25, was arrested early yesterday morning after allegedly carjacking a relative’s vehicle and then breaking into two homes.

At about 3:10 a.m. on March 17, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to a home in the Ridgeview neighborhood (1900 block of NW 31st Avenue), where the victim, a relative of Williams, said Williams had run out of her residence before falling down and then getting up and jumping through the open window of her vehicle, “clawing his way” into her vehicle “like an animal.” The victim said Williams knocked her phone out of her hand and knocked the glasses off her face while yelling at her to get out of the vehicle. She said she fled in fear for her life and then Williams climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away at high speed before crashing the vehicle.

A search of the vehicle reportedly produced a pill that tested positive for methamphetamine; the victim said it was not there before Williams took her vehicle.

At about 3:57 a.m., the resident of a home in the 3200 block of NW 31st Avenue awakened to a crash in his living room and reportedly saw a man standing in his living room, with the front window broken. The victim reportedly told the man, later identified as Williams, to leave, but Williams allegedly refused. The victim reportedly pushed and dragged Williams out of his home while Williams allegedly grabbed him, leaving a minor laceration.

The victim immediately called 911 and said Williams was walking away toward the northeast.

At about 4 a.m., Williams allegedly broke the front window on a second residence in the same block and climbed inside, damaging furniture inside the house. The victims reportedly hid in the master bathroom while calling 911; the responding officer reported that they were shaking when he interviewed them.

Williams was allegedly still in the second home when officers arrived and said through the broken front window that he was the property owner. The officer reported that Williams was covered in scratches and blood. After Williams walked outside and was detained, officers entered the house and reportedly found blood throughout the house, including a “big pool” of blood in the guest bathroom, where Williams appeared to have been trying to stop the bleeding.

The residents of the two homes reportedly told officers that they did not know Williams.

One officer reported that he was unable to interview Williams “due to his altered mental state.”

Williams has been charged with carjacking without a weapon, burglary, burglary with battery, and possession of a controlled substance. He has two felony convictions (none violent) and one misdemeanor conviction (one violent); he has served one state prison sentence and was released in July 2023. He was recently released from the Alachua County Jail, where he served a 60-day sentence for violating community control imposed for grand theft of a motor vehicle.

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.