"Thank you for not shooting me"

A 12-year-old Holiday boy was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer Friday after pointing a BB gun at a trooper, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

According to the FHP, at 11:06 p.m., a trooper was sent to a vehicle crash. He saw a red flash from a laser light, lost vision momentarily, swerved and almost hit a concrete wall. He stopped and saw a boy taking cover behind a wall, pointing what appeared to be a pistol at the trooper.

The trooper got out of his patrol car and saw the laser light on his chest and ran to the back of the car to take cover. He saw the boy throw down the pistol and drop to his knees. The trooper ran toward the boy, who rolled down an embankment along with another 12-year-old boy. The first boy then threw the laser light into a canal.

The trooper arrested the boy with the laser light and took a black plastic BB gun from him. He was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center, telling the trooper, “Thank you for not shooting me.”

Times Staff Writer

A salad to die for?

Mozzarella caprese -- fresh cheese and tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and basil -- apparently is a popular item at Pizza Time restaurant in Boca Raton.  So popular, in fact, that the chef threated a waitress with violence if she brought him one more order for the salad.

Police said chef and manager Mark DeCraepeo told the waitress that if she brought him yet another ticket for mozzarella caprese, "I swear to God I'll shoot you in the forehead."  He then slammed a handgun in a holster down on the countertop.  "Now you see I'm (expletive) serious, I'll put a bullet right in your forehead," DeCraepeo hollered, according to police.

The waitress worked the rest of her shift but called police that evening to report the incident.  Chef DeCraepeo allegedly told police he did have a gun but that he did not point it at anyone.  He was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit a felony and carted off to jail.

Children unlikely allies in feral hog hunt

In its effort to control Florida's overpopulation of feral hogs, the state has enlisted some unlikely partners: children.

Kids like 9-year-old Cecilia Plummer, a fourth-grader at St. Jude's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. She will be one of 20 children to don gear and rifle for a hog-hunting expedition on a state reserve in Manatee County.

The youth hunt will be a first for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which also touts the event as a way to get kids outside more. Parents will tag along on the free hunts, which will be held on two Saturdays this month.

Little Cecilia is ready.

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Read the rest of the story @ Tampabay.com.

Day before wedding, man accidentally shoots, kills fiancee

WINTER SPRINGS -- He thought he heard an intruder in his home early Friday, so John Tabutt, 62, got his gun and fired at a figure in the dark hallway, investigators said.

He struck his live-in fiancee, 62-year-old Nancy Dinsmore. Family members say the couple planned to get married Saturday in a small ceremony.

Tabutt said he thought she was next to him in bed the whole night. He has not been charged.

Associated Press

Oops...times two

A 17-year old Manatee county boy was cleaning a gun.  He removed the magazine.  He did not clear the chamber.  He pressed the trigger while trying to remove the slide.  Oops!  The bullet went through his leg.  And then hit his 20-year old brother in the leg.

Oops again.

Read all about it in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Plant City man fired at girlfriend as she hacked through his door with an axe

PLANT CITY — When his girlfriend took to his door with an axe, William Floyd started shooting, deputies say.

No one was hurt in the 2 a.m. domestic dispute at 2811 S County Line Road, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter. Floyd, 44, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Carter said it seems Floyd's live-in girlfriend couldn't get into his front door and tried to chop it down. So Floyd fired a round at the door with a .38-caliber handgun. The girlfriend drove away and refused to answer an investigator's questions, Carter said.

Floyd admitted to shooting the gun but told deputies he had only fired into the air as the woman was leaving, an arrest report states. Floyd was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail and has been released on bail of $4,000.

Dropped pistol fires, wounding woman in next restroom stall at Tampa hotel

TAMPA — A simple trip to the restroom ended in an accidental shooting at the Clarion Hotel Thursday morning, according to Tampa Police.

At 8:30 a.m., Janifer Bliss, 54, was in a restroom stall at the hotel on Fowler Avenue when a gun fell out of woman's waist holster in the next stall.

The small caliber gun fired when it hit the floor and the shot went through Bliss's lower left thigh. She was taken to Tampa General Hospital with minor injuries, according to a release from Tampa Police.

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Read the full story at Tampabay.com.

Double whammy: man blows away part of own hand, faces illegal weapons charge

A 24-year old Deltona man got out of bed early Tuesday and grabbed a weapon to investigate a noise in his home.  Alas, according to an AP story at WFTY.com, Kenneth Haven tripped over a dumbbell on the floor and his short-barrel shotgun went off, seriously injuring his left hand.  When he went to a local hospital for treatment, a staff member called police, who investigated Haven's home and found shotgun pellets and a significant quantity of blood in the kitchen.  They also found that the barrel of Haven's shotgun barrel was only 8 1/2 inches long -- too short, according to Florida law.  So the injured man may be charged with possession of an illegal firearm.

Pasco deputies say man accidentally shot himself with gun he stole

HOLIDAY — A man accused of stealing a gun was arrested after accidentally shooting himself in the hand.

According to the Pasco Sheriff's Office, Jason M. Koulias, 26, broke down the front door to a house at 5924 Pappillion Lane in Holiday in March and stole a .40-caliber Glock handgun, a computer and a laser sight for the gun. Koulias somehow shot himself with the gun and was taken to Community Hospital, the report said.

As hospitals have to report gunshot wounds to authorities, Koulias was questioned at the hospital on Thursday and linked to the March break-in.

He was arrested on a charge of armed burglary and released on $50,000 bail.

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From Tampabay.com

Teens' fake guns bring real charges

A pickup filled with five teenagers cruised downtown New Port Richey early Wednesday morning. They were on their way to get cheeseburgers from McDonald’s when they spied a man sleeping on Adams Street near Main Street. They shined a flashlight in his face and two of the young men grabbed their air guns — replicas of an M-16 assault rifle and semi-automatic handguns — and opened fire, according to the New Port Richey Police Department.

They shot the man 50 times, pelting him with BBs in the face and body. One shot hit under his eye, said Sgt. Howard Snyder.

The man bolted and flagged down a police cruiser that happened to be nearby around midnight.

Patrick N. Pinder, 18, of New Port Richey, and Jose Castillo-Gomez, 18, of Port Richey, were both arrested on charges of aggravated battery.

Read more here

Pictured: Jose Castillo-Gomez, 18 and Patrick N. Pinder, 18

Erin Sullivan, Times Staff Writer