On Monday, William Briscoe was arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of his girlfriend’s son, who escaped the incident unscathed.
Angel Cabrera’s mother had been missing for approximately eight days, and following a phone altercation over her whereabouts, Briscoe lured Cabrera to his location and fired multiple shots at him from behind a tree with a stolen rifle from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, according to the arrest report.
He filed a missing persons report for his mother June 17 after initially failing to make contact with Briscoe, he said.
Cabrera found Briscoe’s phone number while searching through his mother’s computer where he said he encountered a thread of “threatening” and “erratic” messages from Briscoe. When he spoke with his mother days prior, Cabrera said she described threats “to kill her and slice her throat” from her boyfriend, who Cabrera alleged did drugs with his mother regularly.
“The guy seems pretty nuts,” he said. “The messages weren’t even slightly coherent.”
After receiving approximately seven calls, Briscoe picked up and said Cabrera’s mother wasn’t with him, sparking an argument during which he told Cabrera to meet him at his residence in a homeless encampment, according to the arrest report.
“My whole plan was to go over there and bring the police over there to kind of get them to look for her,” he said.
Upon arriving, Cabrera said he saw Briscoe duck behind the treeline where he began to shoot with the stolen rifle. The first flashes looked like fireworks and caused Cabrera to chuckle, which he said only “ticked him off.”
After taking shelter behind his truck, Cabrera heard about eight rounds before he ran across the street and waved down a passerby for help while Briscoe moved further into the woods, according to the arrest report.
Though he escaped unharmed, Cabrera said he was shaken.
“I just panicked and ran for my life,” he said. “I didn't even really process what happened until I got to the GPD station and was talking to the detectives, and I kind of broke down a little bit.”
After being taken into custody, Briscoe told his arresting officer he purchased the rifle, which had its serial number scratched off, from an unidentified woman for $400. Through a routine teletype check, an operator advised the rifle was stolen from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office June 9.
Briscoe was charged with attempted murder, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an altered serial number.
Prior to his arrest June 17, he had six felony convictions with two involving the use or possession of a firearm or ammo by a convicted felon, according to the arrest report.
Cabrera said he later received a message from his mother, who was at the encampment with Briscoe the entire time, asking that he leave and not contact the police.
“I find out 30 minutes after looking for him, trying to clear out the woods, that my mother was in there voluntarily with him the whole time,” he said. “That kind of threw me off.”
Contact Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp and Lee Ann Anderson at rdigiacomo-rapp@alligator.org and landerson@alligator.org. Follow them on X @rylan_digirapp and @LeeAnnJOU.
Lee Ann Anderson is a sophomore journalism major and The Alligator’s Summer 2023 criminal justice reporter. In her free time you can catch her reading articles, talking to her cat or losing her mind.
Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp is a third year journalism and environmental science major and the Fall 2024 Enterprise Environmental Reporter. Outside of the newsroom, you can usually find her haunting local music venues.
