Woman Serving Seven Years in Prison for Firing Gun in Trailer Near Walmart
Several months ago, a woman fired shots inside of her trailer near Walmart (2900 SW 42nd St), causing several patrons to be held inside the store on a police lockdown for hours. Now the woman responsible is serving a seven-year prison sentence.
On March 1, at 7:49 am, units with the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) and Alachua County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Walmart after Brandy Alexis McLaughlin, 57, “called LEO to report that she accidentally discharged her firearm in reference to an act of vandalism,” the arrest report states. McLaughlin reportedly “advised that she had a gas can and if they fire there will be trouble.”
Police arrived at the scene to find members of Gainesville Fire and Rescue already there, who said they heard “two distinct gun shots come from [McLaughlin’s] trailer.”
According to the arrest report, police called McLaughlin multiple times asking her to exit the trailer but she refused. McLaughlin told police to walk up to her trailer to speak with her and lock the doors. She also requested that the police send pictures of their location.
The arrest report states, “During the several telephone calls with LEO, [McLaughlin] mentioned that she had propane tanks, a loaded AR-15 rifle and two handguns. Based upon this information, it was not safe for LEO to approach the trailer.”
The arrest report continues, “While still trying to communicate with [McLaughlin], at approximately [9:07 am], [McLaughlin] fired one round from one of her firearms. LEO could not tell from where or what direction [McLaughlin] was aiming her firearm. When this round was fixed, the original contact team was approximately 10-20 yards from [McLaughlin]. This placed all officers on scene in fear of potentially being struck by a projectile. This was an intentional act of both aggravated assault with a firearm on LEO and attempted aggravated battery on LEO. While LEO was actively attempting to negotiate with [McLaughlin], [she] pointed a firearm several times at the contact team placing them in fear as well. LEO was continuing to try to communicate with [McLaughlin] to try and peacefully resolve this incident. [McLaughlin] again fired one round from one of her firearms at approximately [9:15 am].”
Between 11:45 am and noon, McLaughlin fired several more rounds, the arrest report states.
The arrest report describes that McLaughlin “seemed to be suffering from audio and visual exclusions,” “talking to people that were not there, and was also seeing people that were not there.”
The arrest report describes that police were able to arrest McLaughlin peacefully, but doesn’t give details on how she was detained.
McLaughlin was charged with one count of resisting an officer without violence and one count of resisting with violence, in addition to nine counts of aggravated assault on LEO and nine counts of aggravated battery on LEO for each of the nine GPD officers on the scene.
In April, the majority of McLaughlin’s charges were dropped.
In August, McLaughlin was convicted of aggravated assault on specified personnel, firing a weapon in a public area and resisting an officer with violence.
According to court records, Judge James Colaw accepted a plea deal from McLaughlin to sentence her to three years in prison followed by five years of probation. However, court records also show Colaw sentenced McLaughlin to seven years in prison followed by three years of probation.
According to her probation order, McLaughlin will be required to take a mental health and substance abuse evaluation, must submit to random drug testing and will relinquish all her firearms.
In 2019, McLaughlin was granted a withheld adjudication for discharging a firearm in public, Duval County Court Records show.
