Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Zion Me’kel Newkirk, 17, has been charged as an adult with attempted second-degree homicide after being identified as the suspect who allegedly shot a 21-year-old man multiple times on November 7 in Holly Heights.
At about 2:03 a.m. on November 7, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to an apartment in the 700 block of SW 70th Terrace and found the victim in front of the apartment building with multiple gunshot wounds. The occupant of a nearby apartment had called 911 to report that the victim showed up at the door and said, “They shot me.” Deputies provided life-saving measures until EMS arrived to transport the victim to a local hospital.
Deputies reportedly found a blood trail from the victim’s location to another apartment in the same building. The door of that apartment was ajar, and deputies reported finding blood inside the apartment and several spent shell casings; no other victims were located, and deputies were unable to contact the renter of the apartment at the time. They secured the apartment and obtained a search warrant; no firearm was found in the resulting search.