Grace McAlister
Reporter1@riverbendnews.org
On Wednesday, Jan. 11, the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office helped arrest a man involved in a shooting that paralyzed a man during a home invasion robbery in Gainesville, Fla.
According to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, deputies assisted U.S. Marshals in arresting Rahzon Tee-Von Fennell-Demeritte, 18, of Live Oak. Deputies say Fennell-Demeritte was wanted for home invasion robbery and attempted murder in Gainesville, Fla.
Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers say Fennell-Demeritte was one of the suspects involved in a shooting at the Enclave Apartments in June of 2022. A father and son were in the home when Cedric Cohens, Frezell Williams Lamar Rowe, Kob’ie Archer, and Fennell-Demeritte forced their way into a home in June 2022.
GPD officers responded at 9:16 p.m. on June 27, 2022, to a reported shooting at The Enclave apartments and found a man who had been shot; his son was reportedly the intended victim of a home invasion robbery. The son told police that Cohens had come over earlier in the evening to smoke marijuana with him, and when he left, he let three armed subjects into the apartment. The son reportedly said that one of them hit him in the back of the head with a pistol, then dragged him into his bedroom and told him to hand over his cash, a report from the GPD states. He told officers that the subjects stole about $2,000 in cash from him while holding him at gunpoint. The arresting officer reported that a large amount of marijuana, white powder, and other drug paraphernalia were present in the apartment.
The father had been asleep in his room, according to the GPD report, but ran into his son’s room when he heard the disturbance, and one of the intruders shot him in the back. The officer reported that doctors said the bullet severed the man’s spinal cord and that he was expected to be paralyzed from the neck down. The subjects fled the apartment after the shooting.
Cohens was arrested later that night after his vehicle was found at a nearby apartment complex. He is currently in the Alachua County Jail. Fennell-Demeritte was identified using information associated with a Cash App transaction between him and Cohens and through phone records for a cell phone associated with his Facebook account. Fennell-Demeritte’s warrant recommends $2,000,000 bail.
Fennell-Demeritte, was arrested and charged with armed home invasion robbery and attempted felony murder in connection with the June 27 shooting at that left a man paralyzed.
Archer, of Lake City, was arrested on July 24. Fennell-Demeritte, 18, of Live Oak and Rowe, 20, of Lake City, were arrested Wednesday, Jan. 11. All three are currently at the Alachua County Jail.