A retiree who shot at a Walmart delivery drone to make it “shoo off” has accepted a plea deal after being hit with criminal charges.
Dennis Winn, 72, was accused of causing $2,500 of damage after shooting the aircraft outside his home in Lake County, Florida.
The former fire captain is said to have believed he was being surveilled by drones and was suspicious of them, a police report states.
The elderly man was cleaning his pool when he heard a “whirring noise” and went to retrieve his gun.
After blasting the craft, Mr Winn joked to police that he “must be a good shot”.
When police informed him of the cost of the damage to the drone, he is also said to have asked them if he could keep it, according to the police report.
Bodycam footage from the time of the incident shows the 72-year-old saying: “I fired one round at it.
“They say I hit it, so I must be a good shot, or else it’s not that far away.
“I’m going to wind up having to find a real good defense lawyer.”
Dennis Winn was accused of discharging a firearm in public and criminal mischief but the charges were dropped under his plea deal
Mr Winn was charged with discharging a firearm in public and criminal mischief.
However, the retiree has now agreed to take part in a pretrial intervention programme, which will result in the dropping of criminal charges, The Smoking Gun reported.
The incident happened in June when Virginia-based DroneUp Delivery was working on mock deliveries for Walmart and had set up a delivery point outside of Mr Winn’s $500,000 home, which is in a cul-de-sac.
As the drone descended from 230ft to a height of 75ft, the crew heard a “loud sound consistent with a firearm”, a police report states.
The drone crew saw Winn “holding a handgun towards the sky and towards the drone,” police said.
The cost of the damage was estimated to be $2,500, largely owing to a “hole created by an impact” which rendered it “inoperable”.
Metal shavings found on the aircraft were consistent with damage caused by a bullet.
The police report states: “The defendant stated he had past experience with drones and believed they were surveilling him.
“Therefore, he walks into his house, opened his gun safe, acquired his (Sig Sauer) 9mm pistol, went back to the pool pump, racked the firearm to chamber a round, aimed into the sky to acquire the drone, and shot one time”.