A Bad Shoot—30 Rounds, 90 Seconds, Zero Hits, and Poor Judgement

In this story from Florida, once again we see the importance of identifying what we shoot at. It all went down around 9 PM on June 22, at a home in Pinellas County, Florida.

A pool maintenance worker arrived at the home to work on the pool like he had done before. He arrived later than expected and while it was dark out. The worker didn't notify the homeowner and went directly to the backyard pool and began working.

Florida Man Shoots at Pool Worker—

According to ABC 7 News, the female resident heard noises coming from the backyard, and observed an unknown male. She was unaware that the person in the backyard was the pool worker, and notified her husband, who was also home. She called 911 while her husband retrieved an AR15 rifle from the bedroom.

The husband said he saw the light from a flashlight the person was carrying come close to the door, and believed the person was trying to break into the home. In response, he fired 2 rounds through a glass sliding door toward the maintenance worker. Neither one struck the worker, however, news reports said shrapnel struck him, causing minor injuries.

The worker fled when the homeowner fired the initial two rounds. The homeowner followed up the first two shots, with 28 more in the general direction. None of those struck the worker or anyone else, thank God.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's department conducted their investigation and decided not to charge the homeowner. In a press conference, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said,

“It's one of those things that I would call lawful, but awful. I mean, it's lawful, but it's just an awful set of circumstances.”

I've included a video from Inside Edition that shows edited surveillance footage and 911 audio from the incident. While the video aligns mostly with the reported statements of the shooter, there is some slight inconsistency, especially with the statement that the man fired because he saw the flashlight coming toward the door.

The initial shots come after the worker, who is in fact holding a flashlight, turns and walks away from the door and back toward the pool.

So the man isn't facing charges because the Sheriff's Department determined the homeowner believed that the person in his backyard was attempting to break in, and, while factually wrong, his actions were objectively reasonable and lawful.

Important Lessons—

There are some basic takeaways that I think are important for anyone who has a firearm for personal or home protection to consider.

Foremost, just because police didn't charge the homeowner, it doesn't mean this is a “good shoot.” Even though the police didn't charge the homeowner, it doesn't mean they couldn't. After all, we've all seen people defend themselves and end up with criminal charges for clearly lawful behavior. And that's just part of it.

Imagine if any of the 30 rounds struck the worker and caused his death. If you were the homeowner, would not being charged with a crime make you feel better, knowing you killed an innocent guy?

Secondly, deadly force is justifiable in cases where there is no other option or another option is impractical. The homeowners were on the phone with 911, and inside the home behind a presumably locked door. The portions of the video don't show the worker ever try to open the door or peer inside the home. In fact, it shows him look in and wave to someone, and then turn around and begin working on the pool.

While lawful, the homeowner had other options available besides cranking off 30 rounds from his rifle. By taking up a position of cover inside the home, he could have waited until the unknown person actually did something that made it appear as though he was there to break in.

I'm sorry, you don't get to make bad decisions and then pass it off by saying “you don't know what you would do in that situation”. This is the whole reason we take the time to cover incidents like this, why we train and educate ourselves so we can make better decisions.

What is Your Home Defense Strategy?

A few years ago, we created a course called Complete Home Defense, which provides a wealth of information on home defense strategies that help you make wise decisions about how you defend your home.

Here are a few simple principles that would have helped.

Identifying a threat is much easier with light. Most homes have some sort of outdoor lighting. Why not flip a switch and turn on lights in the backyard? The homeowner would have immediately noticed that the dude was carrying pool cleaning equipment, or recognized him as a guy who had been to his home before. And if it was a bad guy, the light may have chased him off. If it didn't, you still have an AR rifle if he tries to break in.

Yelling out through the window or door is another option if you don't have exterior lighting, or even if you do. Yelling something like, “who are you? I'm on the phone with the police and I am armed with a rifle” should get someone's attention. If they are there for legit reasons, they are going to let you know. And if they are there for nefarious reasons, their response will let you know that too.

And please, make sure you don't shoot in the general area of someone and that every shot you fire has an appropriate sight picture attached to it. It may be a gross sight picture at an extremely close distance, or a more refined sight picture, but you need to aim the gun for each shot.

Again, the homeowner was so lucky that none of the rounds left his property and injured anyone. However, if they had, and wound up killing someone, how would he feel? How would you feel if it were you who fired the rounds? How about if you were a neighbor whose child was stuck and killed by one of the 30 rounds fired without aiming?

If you're a maintenance worker, please contact the homeowner before proceeding further onto the persons's property. I see this often with county or city workers that have to read meters or do something similar. A utility easement might give you access, for safety, contact the homeowner. Wearing a brightly colored vest is not enough to distinguish you from a bad guy.

In this incident, an apartment maintenance worker got shot and killed while working on a water heater outside the apartment.

In Conclusion—

I don't know the homeowner, and this post isn't about his character or meant to disparage him as a person. But we need to make better decisions. One way is to learn from what people do well and what they do wrong. Then replicate things that work and stay away from the bad stuff.

Important Resources—

This incident illustrates why it is so important that we have a home defense strategy. If you don't have one, the Complete Home Defense online course can help you come up with one. Even if you don't take the course, you can search our written content for principles and strategies to keep your family safe at home.

Here are just some of the many articles we've written on security and home defense strategies.

• Your Armed Response to the Late Night Knock at the Door Could Get You Killed
• Should You Search Your House For The Bad Guy?
• 5 Home Defense Carbine Handling Tips
• Home Defense Shotgun Myths Revisited In This DGU
• Homeowner Survives Home Invasion Attempt-What's Your Home Security Plan?
• Man Shot and Killed by Police Responding to Wrong Home
• Aftermath, Surviving a Home Invasion , Now What?
• Don't Go In: Arriving Home to Forced Entry