A Florida woman who called 911 to report two teenage boys after she discovered them fishing near her home ended up in jail for allegedly holding them against their will in her backyard.
Donna Elkins was charged with aggravated assault and two counts of false imprisonment for the incident.
The 59-year-old called 911 on March 28 to report two boys for trespassing on her property in Melbourne, WOFL reported.
According to an arrest affidavit, Elkins told dispatchers that she caught the boys fishing in her backyard, so she “petrified them.” She added that she “stopped them, and they were laying on the ground.”
The boys, ages 13 and 15, told deputies they were fishing in a pond behind Elkins’ home when Elkins approached them and pointed a long black pellet gun at them.
She allegedly told them they could not leave, ordered them to get on the ground, and then threatened to “blow their heads off.”
Cellphone video taken by one of the victims shows Elkins threatening the boys, saying, “Cause if someone goes in your backyard, you can blow their f—ing heads off. I have a right to protect my property and my house.”
In fear for their lives, the boys remained on the ground for five minutes until Elkins’ husband caught wind of what was happening, came into the backyard, and disarmed her, investigators said.
“She said she was going to blow our brains out and that if we didn’t listen to her, she would shoot — that she was going to blow our heads off,” 15-year-old Brayden said.
Elkins never physically injured the boys, and they left the property unharmed. They didn’t realize that the gun she was holding was a pellet gun and not a real firearm.
“In my head, it was a real gun,” Brayden said. “That she was going to shoot us and kill us and the fact that she was saying she was going to blow our heads off, you can’t do that with a pellet gun. I really thought it was real.”
Authorities learned that the boys weren’t actually fishing on Elkins’ property but on a peninsula located 30 feet from her property line, which is owned by a community development district.
Elkins apologized for her response to the situation but defended her actions, saying she was frightened. She said that other strangers had been caught walking onto the property in the past and had also been reported for trespassing.
“I’ve been judged so badly, lied on. People are just ripping me apart. I feel horrible but I was freaked out,” Elkins told Florida Today. “We’ve had homeless people back here. And we do have a sign out that says no fishing. I’m extremely sorry, but I wouldn’t be walking in anybody’s backyard in today’s world.”
Elkins was released from the Brevard County Jail on a $25,000 bond. She’ll be arraigned later this month.
“What she did was wrong,” Brayden said.
