A Florida prosecutor has ordered an investigation after a homeowner fired shots at a couple who were delivering groceries and accidentally turned onto his property.
Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor said police investigators never contacted his office about the April 15 shooting in Southwest Ranches that put at least two bullets into the car driven by 19-year-old Waldes Thomas Jr., who was with his 18-year-old girlfriend, Diamond Darville.
The lead detective from the Davie Police Department – which has a contract with Southwest Ranches to provide service – said he could not determine if either the shooter or couple committed a crime.
“Each party appeared justified in their actions based on the circumstances they perceived,” the report concluded.
CALIFORNIA WOMAN ACCUSED OF KILLING HOME DEPOT EMPLOYEE SAYS GUN ACCIDENTALLY FIRED
The April 15 shooting happened on an unlit street in a semi-rural neighborhood at a home sitting on two acres.
Police said Thomas and Darville got lost while delivering groceries for Instacart shortly before 10 p.m. They were on the phone with their customer when Thomas turned their 2014 Honda Civic into an area where the shooter stores equipment for his excavation business. The address they were looking for was across the street.
The shooter and the couple gave investigators conflicting reports about what happened next.
The homeowner told officers he asked his 12-year-old son to tell the driver to leave, but soon heard the boy yelling for help. The father said he saw the car driving erratically, banging into logs and boulders, so he told his son to run.
He said the car then drove toward him and ran over his foot. Saying he feared for his life and his son’s, the man drew his handgun and fired at the car’s tires, but it sped away. He then called the police.
An officer found Thomas and Darville parked nearby. When he asked what happened, they replied, “We just got shot at.” He said Darville was crying and Thomas appeared “extremely nervous and scared.” The officer said there were two bullet holes in the car’s bumper and one tire was flat.
The couple told police they thought they were at the right house, then tried to leave after the boy told them they weren’t. Thomas said he put the car into reverse and hit a boulder, which was when the shooter approached “aggressively.” That’s when Thomas said he heard shots and drove away. Darville said she saw the shooter pull his gun and fire.
“I said, ‘We got to go, we got to go,'” Darville told WTVJ. “I was scared, I’m not going to lie.”
Police say they returned the shooter’s gun after closing the case. He has not been charged with a crime.
The shooting marked the latest in a spate of similar shootings across the U.S. where people have mistakenly turned onto the wrong property or gotten in the wrong car. One person has been killed and others seriously wounded.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
