Good Samaritan fires shots as driver heads toward anglers on pier, Florida cops say
A good Samaritan is credited with ending a violent dispute that escalated when someone started driving a pickup out onto a fishing pier, according to investigators in southwest Florida.
The driver’s identity and cause of death have not been released.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno says the shooting took place Wednesday, July 31, at the Bokeelia Fishing Pier on Pine Island. The island is on Florida’s Gulf Coast, about a 140-mile drive south of Tampa.
“Detectives learned the decedent approached a person on scene and displayed a firearm. The decedent then returned to their vehicle and proceeded to drive the vehicle down the pier, which was occupied by bystanders,” the sheriff’s office said in an email to McClatchy News.
“While driving down the pier, a Good Samaritan fired multiple rounds at the vehicle. The vehicle became stuck on a gate halfway down the pier.”
No charges have been filed in the case, the sheriff’s office said.
The Bokeelia Fishing Pier announced in a Aug. 1 social media post that it “will be closed until further notice.” The pier is at the northern end of Pine Island, and stretches out into Charlotte Harbor.
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Video posted on Facebook shows the pickup was driven slowly down the narrow dock, sideswiping a shed and hitting a golf cart. The truck then appears to try and push the golf cart off the pier, sending up smoke from its spinning tires.
“The pickup truck, he’s going nuts,” someone is heard saying in the video.
Anglers were on the pier at the time and some say the golf cart kept the truck from hitting people, WINK reports.
“We were baffled. I was like, there’s never cops out here, so we came out to check it out, and it was crazier than I thought it would be,” Aidan Sivore told the station.
Anglers Andre Teyssier and Joe Licini said they were in a nearby boat when “five or six” shots rang out and they ducked for cover, WBBH reported.
“We had a feeling something wasn’t good because they weren’t concerned about pulling somebody out of that truck real quick. Then, they started covering it up with like a tarp,” Licini told the station.
This story was originally published August 1, 2024 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Good Samaritan fires shots as driver heads toward anglers on pier, Florida cops say."