OCALA, FL – On Monday, June 12, at around 2:45 a.m., the Ocala Police Department received a report about an armed robbery at the Marathon Gas Station located at 3620 E Silver Springs Blvd. After the robbery, the store clerk said the suspect had fled on foot and was headed north.
According to the detailed account of the store clerk, the suspect entered the store and pretended to buy cigarettes using cash. As the store clerk opened the cash register, the suspect revealed a firearm wrapped in a plastic bag from his hoodie pocket. The suspect pointed the gun directly at the store clerk and demanded that he empty the cash register drawer. While the store clerk was doing so, the suspect also instructed him to put his personal cell phone and the store landline phone into the bag. The store clerk described the suspect as a white male in his mid-thirties, wearing a dark gray hoodie, dark pants, and a rainbow-colored bandanna covering his nose and mouth.
The store clerk couldn’t provide a clear description of the gun because it was partially covered by the plastic bag, but he believed it was small. The suspect escaped with money from the cash register, which the store clerk emptied into the bag before handing it over.
Moments after the robbery, an officer was headed to the area and noticed two individuals walking north on NE 36th Ave.—one of them wearing a gray hoodie. As her patrol vehicle approached the two individuals, the suspect wearing the gray hoodie fled into the wooded area at the northeast corner of the intersection of NE 14th St. and NE 36th Ave. The other individual did not obey orders to stop and kept walking away out of sight.
Due to the one suspect matching the description and fleeing into the wooded area, officers established a perimeter and surrounded it. The officer and his partner, K-9 Creed, arrived at the scene and began tracking, which led to the discovery of an abandoned plastic bag containing cash, a cell phone, and a portable landline, all of which was reported stolen by the store clerk during the robbery.
Within a few yards of the woodline, the officer found the gray hoodie which belonged to the suspect. Inside the hoodie’s front pocket, a small starter pistol was found. The suspect was continued to be tracked through the woods.
Dispatch then received a call from a citizen residing in a nearby neighborhood, reporting that a white male had jumped over their fence and fled toward the wooded area. Officers redirected efforts to that location and continued tracking, leading to the discovery of Travis Givens, 25, hiding in a bush. Upon seeing K-9 Creed, Givens surrendered to officers and was taken into custody.
Detectives conducted his investigation and found probable cause to arrest Givens for armed robbery.
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