Assault charges dropped in Cortez mobile home park shootout, judge says
A Bradenton man no longer faces charges in a 2024 shooting after a judge ruled he was immune under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law and dismissed the case.
Prosecutors said they charged 49-year-old Kevin Richard Armstrong with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after they say he fired a shotgun at his girlfriend during a shootout at Sunny Shores Mobile Home Park in Cortez.
Circuit Judge Frederick Mercurio granted his Stand Your Ground motion and dismissed the case on Oct. 13, according to court records. Armstrong filed the motion in September, arguing he acted in self-defense and was protected under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
In the filing, Armstrong says one of the men with the woman called ahead and told him they were coming to retrieve her belongings and that, “if he didn’t cooperate they were going to kill him.” He said that when they arrived, she shoved him and the two men with her displayed firearms from a golf cart.
Armstrong said he fired a single shotgun blast into the air as a warning before one of the men shot back, hitting the woman and also shooting him in the foot.
His attorney argued he was defending himself from the imminent use of unlawful force and that prosecutors were required to prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that immunity did not apply, according to court documents.
Charges dropped in Cortez shootout
At the hearing, prosecutors argued Armstrong escalated the confrontation by bringing out a shotgun and was not acting in self-defense. Mercurio disagreed and ruled Armstrong was immune from prosecution, canceling the upcoming trial.
The sheriff’s office described a different version of events in the arrest report.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies said they were called around 8 p.m. on June 6, 2024, to Sunny Shores Mobile Home Park after Armstrong and his girlfriend argued. She left the home and later returned on a golf cart with two men to retrieve her dog and personal belongings. Deputies said both men were armed with “a myriad of weapons, including long guns and pistols.”
When the group arrived, deputies wrote, another confrontation began and Armstrong went inside before coming out with a shotgun. The two men told investigators Armstrong started shooting at them, and they fired back, sending nine to ten rounds toward the home.
During the shootout, the woman was shot in the chest. Deputies wrote she “may have inadvertently been hit” by one of the men who was trying to protect her. She and the two men fled on the golf cart to call 911. Deputies said Armstrong went back inside before surrendering.
Court records show Armstrong was originally charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and battery. Prosecutors later amended the case to a single count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
An attorney representing Armstrong did not immediately respond to the Bradenton Herald’s request for comment.
