Florida Gators receiver Andre Debose was a victim in an "armed confrontation" which occurred in Gainesville Saturday night.
Debose was eating with John Honeycutt, Victor Watkins II, and Kristan Lipham when Watkins and Debose started arguing. The spat escalated from there. From the Gainesville Police Department's statement:
Debose and Watkins got into an argument resulting in Watson [Watkins?] pushing Debose into a window. The glass broke, but Debose was not injured. This angered Honeycutt who retrieved a handgun and threatened Watkins with it. However, Watkins immediately took the handgun from Honeycutt and then discharged several rounds into the ground outside the house.
Honeycutt now retrieved the rifle and fired several rounds into Watkins's SUV and into the ground in front of the house.
Police arrested Honeycutt and charged him with aggravated assault, while everyone else involved was released after interviews.
Originally, the police report had stated that Debose pushed someone through a window, which was false. Ben Tobias, the officer responsible, apologized and released a separate statement on how the error occurred.
This morning, as I read our end-of-shift reports, I copied and pasted the incident summary that included information about Florida Gators WR Andre Debose and sent it to my local media contacts as I do each and every day. Unfortunatly, the initial information released was incorrect.
The initial summary read that Mr. Debose, during an argument, threw another person into a window. In fact, the names in the summary were transposed, and I did not catch the error before sending it to my local media contacts. I did not catch the error until the wildfire had started, and now I am trying to help put that wildfire out.
Mr. Debose was actually the one pushed into the glass, and in fact tried to break this altercation up multiple times during the incident.
To Mr. Debose: I apologize that my error put your name and reputation in jeopardy, no matter how briefly. I take full responsibility for this error, and hope that the stories printed and published will correct your name and reputation. Furthermore, I am extremely proud that you intervened in this incident and likely prevented anyone from being injured or killed.