A South Florida man shot at two Instacart delivery workers who mistakenly drove to the wrong address.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
A man in South Florida shot at the car of two people who drove onto his property after they got lost trying to drop off an Instacart order, police said, leaving the car with bullet holes and a flat tire.
The resident said he fired after the car ran over his foot.
According to a report released by the Davie Police Department, 19-year-old Waldes Thomas Jr. and 18-year-old Diamond Harley Darville were attempting to deliver an Instacart grocery order on the evening of April 15 but were having trouble locating the address of the person who placed the order.
The pair mistakenly pulled their car onto the property of Antonio Caccavale, 43, in Southwest Ranches, a town about 20 miles northwest of Miami.
Caccavale’s 12-year-old son approached them, and they said they tried to reverse out of the property and struck a boulder. They told investigators that was when Caccavale then aggressively approached the vehicle and grabbed at the driver’s side window.
Thomas began driving the gray Honda Civic away when they heard three gunshots.
Caccavale told investigators that when he saw a vehicle on his property, he asked his son to tell the occupants to leave.
He said he heard his son calling for help and ran to his aid, where Caccavale said the vehicle was driving “erratically” and hitting items on the property, such as boulders and fence posts.
The car reversed, sideswiped him and ran over his right foot, Caccavale said, which was when he drew his Smith & Wesson Shield handgun and fired several shots toward the tires. He told police he wanted to disable the vehicle.
Police said they observed two bullet holes in the car’s rear bumper and the rear passenger tire was flat. They said they had no video footage of the shooting.
Darville told NBC6 in South Florida that the duo only realized they’d been fired upon after they drove away.
“I had seen him pull out a gun and that’s when I said, ‘We got to go, we got to go,’ ” she said. “I was scared, I’m not going to lie.”
Police said in the report that it was unclear if a crime had occurred. “Each party appear justified in their actions based on the circumstances they perceived,” police said.
In a statement, Broward County State Attorney Harold F. Pryor called the incident “very disturbing” and said his office requested a full investigation and legal review from the police department. He said the police had not yet sent over their reports and findings.
“Once the police investigation is completed and forwarded to my office, prosecutors will conduct a thorough review of all of the facts presented, the evidence, and the applicable law,” Pryor said. “Prosecutors will then make a decision about whether criminal charges should be filed.”
The harrowing episode called to mind other recent shootings of people who had mistakenly ended up at the wrong address.
Kaylin Gillis, 20, was killed after she and her friends drove into the wrong driveway in upstate New York and the homeowner opened fire. A Kansas City man shot and injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl when Yarl went to the incorrect home to pick up his siblings.