On the night of the shooting, Larry McLamara had just returned from the store. He bought a four pack of Natural Ice beer and a pack of Clifford cigarettes.
He sat outside his neighbors’ first-floor apartment. He and two of his neighbors sat in mismatched wooden chairs as they talked, smoked and drank beer.
It was a nice night. The air was a little bit damp, he said, like the sky couldn’t decide if it wanted to rain.
But none of that was unusual.
The 56-year-old said he doesn’t remember how much time passed while he sat outside.
But he does remember the 30 seconds that broke the night’s stillness.
It started with a shout.
“Damn, he got a gun!” someone screamed.
They heard shots — five of them.
“B****, go ahead and call the police,” someone else shouted.
“Everyone in the house,” McLamara’s friend ordered.
The door closed; The three waited.
“Things like that don’t happen here,” McLamara said.
• • •
When McLamara walked out of his neighbors’ apartment a few hours later, he saw red and blue flashing lights. It was foggy. He said the police were everywhere. He wanted to know what was going on.
But it wasn’t until hours later that he found out.
• • •
According to Gainesville Police, the night unfolded like this:
On Wednesday at 7:08 p.m., Michael Dennison, 41, saw Amanda Stiegemeier in the parking lot of Campus Walk and followed her upstairs into apartment No. 50.
She slammed the door in his face.
Dennison opened the door and walked into Stiegemeier’s living room, where two friends argued with him.
One friend, Shanga Howard, asked him to leave.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
Dennison left the apartment, and he walked downstairs into the parking lot.
Stiegemeier looked outside and said she saw Dennison holding a, “big black gun.”
He walked upstairs to apartment No. 50, knocked on the door and shouted. No one answered.
He went to the parking lot and fired at the apartment.
Howard left the parking lot and returned to apartment No. 50, looking for the three people one last time. But he couldn’t find them.
Steigemeier and her friends hid in a kitchen of a downstairs apartment. They were afraid Howard would kill them, so they called the police.
• • •
William “Bill” Rennie is the resident manager of the complex. The 49-year-old said Dennison was a former tenant. They told him to leave the property a couple of months ago.
McLamara said people come and go at Campus Walk.
“Tell you the truth,” he said, “I wouldn’t know (Dennison) if I saw him.”
McLamara said Rennie told Dennison to leave because he didn’t pay rent.
“This isn’t the f****** ghetto,” he said. “If I can’t settle my differences, I ain’t never gonna pull out a weapon.”
• • •
When police arrived, they saw Dennison running from the apartment complex.
Later, police found several bullet casings in the parking lot outside apartment No. 50. and bullet holes in the side of the apartment complex.
Krista Fulp, a witness, said she heard shots and saw Dennison walking downstairs, carrying a gun.
She said he waved the gun in the air and threatened Stiegemeier and her friends. He said he wasn’t messing around and that there was more to come.
But neighbors like McLamara hope Dennison won’t return.
On Sept. 2, McLamara will turn 57. Even though he said he has witnessed a lot in his life, he hopes he never sees more gun violence.
“I’m not scared of dying,” McLamara said, “but what scares me most is living in a world where punks like that rule the world.”
Officers booked Dennison into the Alachua County Jail on Wednesday at about 8:50 p.m. As of press time, his bond is set at $1 million.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 7/29/2014 under the headline "Shooting at Campus Walk Apartments, no one was hurt"]
Bullet holes dot the wall at Campus Walk Apartments on Monday. Michael Dennison, 41, fired at apartment 50 on Wednesday after getting into an argument with friends.
Bullet holes dot the wall at Campus Walk Apartments on Monday. Michael Dennison, 41, fired at apartment 50 on Wednesday after getting into an argument with friends.
