This is just nuts. Even for Florida men and boys.
By Josh Campbell
Believing there was a burglar at the door, Judd said the father and son armed themselves with .45-caliber firearms and went outside to search for the apparent perpetrator.
In reality, what the Ring doorbell camera showed was a “good Samaritan” male neighbor who had mistakenly received a prescription drug shipment meant for the Colonacostas and was delivering it to their door, Judd said.Outside their apartment, a woman was sitting in her vehicle on her cell phone when she saw Gino Colonacosta pointing a gun at her and ordering her out of her vehicle, Judd said.
Thinking she was about to be carjacked, the woman put the car in reverse, crashing into the car behind her, and then fled, Judd said.
As she escaped, Gino Colonacosta and his minor son opened fire, Judd said.
“The two of them shot at an innocent lady sitting in her car where she had a right to be,” Judd said, noting they allegedly fired seven times, with one round passing through an empty child seat in the vehicle.
“Certainly, had there been a baby in the car seat, the baby would have been killed,” Judd said.
“They go out searching for a burglar that wasn’t there and shot up an innocent lady’s car while she was in it,” Judd said. “That’s crazy!”
Gino Colonacosta then found a parked car near their apartment with a woman inside who had returned home from work, deputies said. According to an arrest affidavit, the 73-year-old man then commanded the woman to exit the car.
After seeing Gino Colonacosta holding a gun behind her car and telling her to get out, the woman — fearful for her life — put her car in reverse and drove backward to get away from the man, deputies said.
According to the sheriff’s office, Rocky Colonacosta heard his father yelling and ran toward the parking lot. Deputies said the boy saw the woman reversing her car and shot at her, trying to shoot out a tire.
The woman continued to drive away from Rocky and Gino Colonacosta as they shot at her car and yelled for her to stop, deputies said. She eventually made her way to a convenience store, where she notified law enforcement, records show.
According to the arrest affidavit, Rocky Colonacosta fired a total of five shots, and Gino Colonacosta fired twice. While the woman’s car was struck multiple times,
Florida is a “Stand your ground” state. Something that has been linked to increased gun violence.
By Kaanita Iyer
States saw an average increase of 8-10% in monthly homicides between 1999 and 2017 after the enactment of such laws, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed journal.
Clearly “Stand your ground” laws embolden gun owners to take things into their own hands, as the NRA (which pushed for these laws) intended.
UPDATE:
In a more rational nation: