An Ocala man is behind bars after he allegedly fired a gun from his pickup truck before battering another man at a local residence.
On Friday, June 12, at around 4:15 p.m., Ocala Police Department officers responded to reports of a shooting near the intersection of NE 8th Avenue and NE 10th Street. Callers reported that the driver of a green pickup truck had fired a gun out of the window and driven away, according to the arrest report.
An OPD detective reviewed traffic camera footage from the intersection, which reportedly showed a green Toyota Tundra roll to a stop while the driver extended both hands out the window, racked the slide of a black handgun, and fired a round into the sky.
The truck’s driver, later identified by police as 46-year-old Jesse Alan Swengel, then allegedly threw a small, shiny object into the roadway before driving off. The report mentioned that approximately seven vehicles were within 1,000 feet of Swengel when the firearm was discharged.
A witness stopped at the intersection also reported seeing Swengel repeatedly racking the slide of the handgun outside his window before firing the shot.
Shortly after the initial call, police received a second report of gunfire in the vicinity of NE 12th Street and NE 10th Avenue. Responding officers recovered three spent .380-caliber shell casings from the road and discovered a fresh bullet hole in a resident’s privacy fence, according to the report.
While police searched for the truck, a local resident called 911 to report a reckless driver in a green Toyota Tundra. The caller reported that the driver was blaring the truck’s horn while traveling in the wrong direction on a one-way stretch of NE 3rd Street.
The citizen followed the pickup truck until it pulled into a driveway of a home located on NE 39th Avenue, allowing officers to quickly establish a perimeter around the residence, according to the report.
Upon entering the home, officers detained Swengel, who was reportedly wearing a bright blue shirt that matched the suspect seen in the intersection surveillance footage. Inside the residence, police also uncovered evidence of a recent physical altercation.
A male victim at the residence told detectives that Swengel had arrived unannounced and began pounding loudly on his door. Out of fear that Swengel would damage the property, the victim let him inside, according to the report.
Once inside, Swengel allegedly began making incoherent statements before grabbing the victim, aggressively slapping his buttocks, and biting his neck and chest. An officer noted in the report that two fresh bite marks were visible on the victim’s body.
During an interior search of Swengel’s truck, officers allegedly discovered the grip of a Glock 19 handgun on the passenger side floorboard with its slide locked back. The report stated that the firearm’s chamber was covered in fresh gunshot residue.
In addition, officers reportedly located a live round of .380-caliber zinc-plated ammunition inside the truck that matched the spent casings found near the damaged privacy fence.
According to the report, OPD investigators believe Swengel mistakenly loaded .380-caliber ammunition into the 9mm Glock due to an “inexperience with firearms”. Since the lighter powder load of a .380 round prevents a 9mm handgun from automatically ejecting casings, Swengel allegedly had to manually rack the gun’s slide after each shot.
Swengel was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he remains in custody without bond. He is being charged with firing a weapon from a vehicle within 1,000 feet of a person (two counts), battery, and criminal mischief.