Prosecutors have cleared three Ocala police officers in the shooting death of a man in a home improvement store parking lot last year.
The case stems from a June 3, 2023, call for service in the Home Depot parking lot at 3300 SW 35th Terrace, off State Road 200 close to Interstate 75, in reference to a possible Baker Act.
Officers were told that Robert Francisco Gonzalez, 41, of Silver Springs, threatened to commit suicide, according to his mother. When officers got to the location, they found Gonzalez, and he was agitated, a report noted. The officers planned to take Gonzalez into custody for a Baker Act. As the officers tried to take Gonzalez into custody, one officer saw Gonzalez had a handgun.
Gonzalez got out of the car and fired at the officers, the report said.