DOCUMENT: Florida

Homeowner Tried To Shoot Down Hovering Drone

Floridian fired volley of 9mm shots at aerial intruder

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Drone Targeted

MAY 25--As a drone hovered near his home Monday night, a Florida man sought to bring down the aerial intruder by firing seven shots from his 9mm handgun, according to police and the pistolero.

Wilmer Yanes, 39, spotted the drone flying above his Bradenton residence upon returning to the property around 6 PM. The drone, Yanes told TSG, dropped to within a few feet of the ground before shooting back up into the sky. Yanes added that he waved his hands at the camera-equipped drone, indicating that he wanted its operator to fly the drone away from his home.

Yanes, a Honduran native who runs a construction firm, said that he was fearful for the safety of his family and worried that a “psycho” may have been trying to watch his 16-year-old daughter. “I’m so protective of my kid,” Yanes said.

With the drone continuing to stalk his property, Yanes attempted to shoot it from the sky. Aiming at the drone with a 9mm firearm--for which Yanes said he has a permit--the homeowner squeezed off seven shots. But none of the rounds hit the drone.

Yanes (seen above) subsequently called 911 to report that he tried to shoot down the drone since he “was in fear of his family’s privacy,” according to a police report.

Cops determined that the drone was being flown by a neighbor, who was properly licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The drone operator, who “claimed that he did not know his drone was shot at,” denied flying the device over Yanes’s property.

A patrolman “educated” Yanes on the “proper use of a handgun” and told the homeowner that “the shooting of a drone was not legal.” Yanes appears to have escaped arrest since, as police noted, “At this time no one witnessed the incident.” (1 page)