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Staff Report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Early this morning, 36-year-old Katie Jo McClain from Starke was taken into custody following an alleged road rage incident involving a firearm near the junction of West University Avenue and 13th Street.
Around 1:11 a.m., officers from the Gainesville Police Department were dispatched to the Holiday Inn located at 1250 W. University Avenue. The victim reported an encounter with individuals in a pickup truck, during which one of the passengers allegedly brandished a gun.
According to the victim, he was halted in the eastbound lane on West University Avenue, attempting to make a turn into the Holiday Inn. Oncoming traffic had delayed his turn, and the pickup truck behind him began honking persistently. Frustrated, he exited his vehicle to confront the truck’s occupants. He recounted that all four individuals exited the pickup truck, and a confrontation ensued in the roadway. The victim noted that a slender woman wearing a black sweatshirt reached toward her back waistband and lifted an object slightly, revealing what appeared to be a gun in a holster. This action, he said, left him fearing for his life.
In response, another officer located a pickup truck matching the victim’s description and executed a felony traffic stop in the 400 block of East University Avenue.
All four occupants of the pickup truck were detained, and they told officers that there had been a “road rage” incident in the 1200 block of West University Avenue. McClain, who was wearing a black sweatshirt, matched the description provided by the victim.
All of the occupants of the pickup truck reportedly said they had gotten into an argument with the victim after the driver blew his horn at the victim because they wanted him to move. They said the victim got out of his vehicle and walked toward them, yelling at them, and they got out of their vehicle to argue with the victim. They said they eventually calmed down and left, and they were surprised to be stopped by law enforcement.
A search of the pickup truck reportedly produced three handguns and a rifle.
A witness provided video that reportedly showed all four occupants of the pickup truck surrounding the victim, trying to get him to fight and calling him a racial epithet and other derogatory terms.
Post Miranda, McClain reportedly said she could not remember what happened because she was under stress; she also mentioned that she was trying to protect her husband during the incident. She reportedly admitted that one of the guns found in the pickup truck, a pistol in a holster, was hers.
McClain has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She has no local criminal history, and she has been released from the jail.
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.