GAINESVILLE, Fla. — On the evening of August 8, 2025, deputies responded to a battery report in the Tower Oaks neighborhood on SW 17th Place.
The victim told deputies he was physically assaulted following a verbal dispute. The suspect, 29-year-old Khalil Keari Barnett, fled before deputies arrived. A family member had contacted law enforcement during the incident. The victim sustained multiple visible injuries.
Deputies set a perimeter and later spotted Barnett near SW 17th Road and SW 74th Drive. When deputies tried to make contact, Barnett fled on foot, discarding a loaded firearm and more than one pound of marijuana during the chase. He was apprehended with K-9 assistance without further incident.
A search of Barnett uncovered two additional bags of marijuana—one weighing over 7 grams and the other over 9 grams—and a box of ammunition. The items were recovered near a child care facility and an educational institution.
Barnett, a convicted felon with prior convictions for possession of a firearm by a Florida delinquent and battery in Marion County, was charged with felony battery with prior conviction, possession of marijuana with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a specified area, two counts of possession of firearm or ammunition by a convicted Florida felon, resisting without violence, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and tampering with evidence.
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