WINTER PARK, Fla. – A Winter Park Pines homeowner says a string of incidents involving three young boys over Father’s Day weekend has him on edge — so much so that he asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation.
“I’m not normally someone to say, ‘Oh, I don’t think I should really leave the house today. I don’t know what’s gonna happen,’” he said.
The homeowner said it started Saturday night when he heard a loud bang on his door around 8 p.m.
At the time, he said he was inside getting ready to give his dog an insulin shot.
“I was ready to give my dog a shot of insulin and I had the syringe in my hand and I thought someone was coming thru the door,” he said.
He says surveillance video shows a young boy banged on the door, rode away on a bicycle and met up with two other boys.
The homeowner says earlier that same day, a neighbor saw the boy on the bike doing wheelies near the home and later brought him to the homeowner’s door to apologize.
“I did talk to this boy and he said he was sorry but then he just turned right around and came back,” the homeowner said.
The homeowner says the three boys returned Father’s Day around 5 p.m. This time, he says surveillance video shows a second boy throwing a car bumper into the driveway, along with a traffic cone.
The homeowner says he contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and so did News 6.
In a statement, the sheriff’s office said, in part: “At this time, it was determined not to be a criminal matter.”
For those who chalk it up to kids just being kids, the homeowner pushed back.
“It’s an outdated expression. Things are very different today than they were years ago,” he said.
He also expressed concern about what could happen if the boys go to the wrong house.
“If they go to the wrong house where somebody’s got a gun and they think they’re breaking in, somebody’s gonna shoot and kill one of ’em … because it’s prank,” he said.
News 6’s Ashley Garrett asked the station’s legal analyst, Steven Kramer whether a Florida homeowner would be within their rights to shoot in self-defense in a situation like this.
“Vandalism and trespass is not enough to shoot a kid,” the analyst said. “You’ve gotta be in fear of getting killed, bodily harm or seriously injured or a forcible felony. This situation changes instantly if you’ve got the kids breaking and entering or burglarizing the home.”
Even if a prank seems harmless, the homeowner, legal experts and authorities say parents should talk to their kids — because the person on the other side of the door may not know it’s a joke, and the situation