Three men arrested on suspicion of robberies and burglaries against members of minorities

Gainesville police arrested three men on Thursday on suspicion of targeting minority businesses and homes in two counties in violent robberies and burglaries.

Jeremiah Gibson, a 21-year-old Jasper resident, was arrested along with 23-year-old Calvin Souter of Lake City and 24-year-old Demundre Evans of Live Oak for committing crimes in Alachua and Suwannee counties, including multiple burglaries, two attempted residential burglaries and one burglary, according to the arrest report.

Pratikkumar Patel, a Chevron employee, was closing up the gas station around 11 p.m. on Jan. 15 when he was confronted by Gibson, Souter and Evans, wearing dark clothing and masks. They punched Patel in the face and beat him unconscious with a gun, causing a large laceration to his head that required hospitalization, the arrest report said.

The men stole a total of about $7,000 from the store, as well as Patel’s wallet, which contained $520, credit cards and identification.

On the evening of January 25, Patel closed the gas station again and drove home. Later, a group of men knocked on his door, claiming to be police officers, but Patel did not answer. When he checked the CCTV of his house, he spotted the same three men dressed in black as in the incident ten days earlier.

A license plate reader near the chevron marker captured both Patel’s car and the white 2013 Kia Optima with a black top that followed him home and was registered to Gibson’s girlfriend, the police report said.

Hours after attempting to break into Patel’s home, the men followed Aminul Islam and Ataur Sojol, owners of a Food Max in Gainesville, to their home.

When they arrived home, Islam was pushed to the ground while a masked man put a gun to his head and said, “If you move, I’ll shoot you.” The other two masked men found Islam’s wife and threatened to kill their daughter if they did not cooperate during the robbery, the arrest report said.

Gibson, Souter and Evans stole the $10,000 deposit from Food Max, $2,000 from the victims, a wallet and a cell phone.

Islam and Sojol said three masked men entered their store around 11 p.m. on January 15, minutes before their first encounter with Patel, without enough cash to complete a purchase.

Gibson, Souter and Evans returned to Patel’s house on January 30 and fired shots at the house after an unsuccessful burglary attempt.

The following day, the men stole lottery tickets from an unnamed store in Suwannee County and cashed them at several locations.