Teen, his dad shoot at woman they mistakenly thought tried to break in, Florida cops say

A 15-year-old and his father shot at a woman they mistakenly thought had tried to break into their home, according to a Florida sheriff.

The series of events, which Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd described as “among the craziest stuff I have seen in a while,” began when a neighbor in the apartment complex brought over a package that had mistakenly been delivered to his door, Judd said during a recorded news conference.

The neighbor found that the medication had been mistakenly delivered to his door at around 7 a.m. on Oct. 15, Judd said.

He brought the medicine to the father and son’s apartment, where it was supposed to have been delivered, and left it hanging on the door.

The father and son saw Ring doorbell camera footage on their cellphones of a person at their door and thought that someone was trying to break in, Judd said.

They both picked up their .45-caliber firearms and went outside to look for the person they thought was trying to get in, he said.

“They’re searching for their quote-on-quote burglar,” Judd said . “There is no burglar.”

About 100 yards away from their residence, they saw a woman sitting in her car looking at her phone, “minding her own business,” Judd said.

The father drew his weapon, pointed it at her and screamed at her to get out of the car. She put her car in reverse and tried to speed away, but the son started shooting into her vehicle, Judd said. His father began shooting, too, according to the sheriff.

“The two of them shot at an innocent lady sitting in her car, where she had the right to be, looking at her cellphone,” he said. “They shot at her seven times.”

The woman wasn’t injured, Judd said, but one of the bullets flew through an empty car seat in the rear of the vehicle and got lodged in the driver’s seat.

“Our victim was that close to death,” Judd said, , “and, certainly, had there been a baby in the car seat, the baby would’ve been killed.”

Both the father and son were charged with attempted murder, among other counts, Judd said.

Florida has a “stand your ground” law that allows someone who feels another person is threatening them with death or bodily injury to meet that person “with force” rather than retreat, but the two were not following the law, Judd said.

“That doesn’t mean you can go search people out and shoot them,” he said . “....You don’t shoot at people. You don’t leave the security of your home and go out and chase people down. That is not appropriate.”

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