BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — An inmate at the Hernando County Detention Center died after another inmate randomly kicked him in the head, according to the sheriff.
Jory Linn Van Antwerp, 49, was booked into the jail in January on sexual assault charges and was staying in the medical unit because he had an unidentified serious medical condition. He was receiving treatment before he was booked and continued to receive care while in custody, said Sheriff Al Neinhuis at a news conference on Tuesday.
Surveillance video recorded on Friday showed Antwerp sitting on the bottom bunk bed in the medical unit, a room with multiple bunk beds, when 35-year-old William Gillespie was let out of his locked cell.
Moments later, he "randomly" went up to Van Antwerp and kicked him in the face, the sheriff said.
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"It was a surprise to us as well as the other inmates. I don’t know if we’ll ever know why he did it," Neinhuis said. "We don’t have any indication that he knew the person, knew the charges or knew anything about our victim."
Neinhuis said Gillespie had been in two prior fights since he was booked into the jail on June 4. He was arrested and charged with two counts of battery, and five days after he was booked, he was involved in a fight with an inmate in the general housing unit. Afterward, Neinhuis said he was moved to disciplinary lockdown and got into a fight with his cellmate.
Gillespie was injured, brought to a hospital, and then placed in the medical unit in a locked cell once he returned to the detention center. On Friday, he was called out of the cell to talk to a sergeant about the previous two fights. When he left the cell, he went up to Van Antwerp and kicked him.
Neinhuis said Van Antwerp and Gillespie never interacted before then, and the other inmates confirmed that. After being checked on by medical staff, Van Antwerp seemed fine, and he said he wasn't hurt. However, as time progressed, he "declined rapidly" and was transported to a hospital the next morning where doctors discovered a brain bleed from a CT scan.
Van Antwerp died in the hospital on Saturday. Neinhuis said the medical examiner ruled that the cause of death was the brain bleed and not the original medical condition that landed Van Antwerp in the medical unit in the first place.
Gillespie was charged with second-degree murder, Neinhuis said. The sheriff also mentioned he had a criminal record that included five felony convictions and 13 misdemeanors.
Neinhuis said Gillespie's actions were "totally unprovoked."
