Omar Gutierrez, left, right, and center, appears being arrested while wearing a cat costume and in a mugshot in May 2023. (Alachua County Sheriff’s Office)
A Florida man wearing a cat costume was arrested after allegedly stabbing his roommate in the neck on Tuesday, authorities say.
Omar Gutierrez, 32, stands accused of one count of attempted murder, according to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.
“We exchanged Gutierrez’s cat costume for a green and white striped jump suit,” the ACSO remarked in a press release posted on Facebook.
At around 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday, multiple deputies responded to a house in Gainesville where a man had just called 911 to report being stabbed in the neck by his roommate, the sheriff’s office said.
In a video of body camera-worn footage released by the ACSO, Captain Chris Sims says two deputies “forced their way inside of a home where [the] stabbing victim lay on the floor bleeding and [the] suspect was still inside that residence and potentially armed.”
The victim’s name has not been released.
“Roommate stabbed the complainant in the neck and there’s blood pouring out,” a dispatcher can be heard saying on the radio as the second of two cruisers pulls up to the house. “They’re unable to advise where the knife is at this time. Possibly still in the suspect’s hand?”
In the footage, a deputy kicks down both of the double, red front doors of the house, repeatedly shouting his arrival with a gun drawn. He quickly makes contact with the victim, who tells law enforcement the defendant is “either in the kitchen or his bedroom.”
“Are you Omar?” one of the deputies shouts. “Hey, where you at man?”
Another deputy appears in the frame and the two members of law enforcement quietly discuss where they think their suspect might be. One deputy asks another to “clear” a certain area of the house. Eventually a man makes contact and a terse negotiation occurs; the man wants to grab something before he leaves but the deputies tell him to come out. The man turns out to be the victim, who walks out the front door holding one hand to his neck, bleeding.
The sheriff’s office described the victim as “severely injured.”
Soon enough, a second man can be heard inside the house, saying something, though his words are unintelligible in the video.
“Sheriff’s office,” a deputy shouts again. “Come to me, I can hear you.”
After a few seconds, a man appears with his arms raised. He is wearing what appears to be a grey cat costume, pajamas, or onesie.
Gutierrez was taken into custody without incident, the footage shows.
He is currently being detained in the Alachua County Jail on $1 million bond. It is unclear if the defendant currently has an attorney.
Attempted murder in the Sunshine State can be prosecuted as a first-degree felony; with a maximum sentence of life in prison. Often, however, attempted murder is prosecuted as a second-degree felony in Florida – with a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison.
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