An elderly Florida homeowner faces weapons charges after he allegedly tried to shoot two door-to-door salesmen who had to hide in someone’s backyard to escape the gunfire.
William M. Williams, 72, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm in public shortly after the shooting incident on May 19.
According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, two men were going door-to-door on Boabadilla Lane in Port Charlotte that day, trying to sell solar panel packages for their company.
When they got to Williams’ home and knocked on the door, a woman answered, but she was “upset they were there and told them to leave,” deputies wrote in a news release.
Once they started leaving the property, they suddenly heard multiple gunshots and turned to see Williams pointing a gun in their direction.
Williams then opened fire several more times on the men, and they frantically ran to a neighbor’s home, pounded on the door, and asked for help.
The neighbor let the men into her backyard to hide from Williams.
Neither of the salesmen was hurt.
After deputies were called and arrived at the scene, Williams was positively identified by both victims as the shooter and detained.
The neighbor also told police she heard several gunshots shortly before the men ran to her home.
Investigators obtained a warrant to search Williams’ home, where they found multiple firearms and ammunition inside. They also found two shell casings, one spent and the other unspent, outside on his property.
Williams was booked into the Charlotte County Jail on a $30,000 bond. He’s since bonded out.
“Once again we are called out to a neighborhood in which a firearm was discharged recklessly,” Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Pummell said. “Thankfully, nobody was hurt by this individual’s actions, though I am sure the victims will not forget the fear they felt any time soon. This man’s response to solicitors was absolutely uncalled for and could have been deadly. I pray that people can learn to regulate their emotions instead of jumping to violence so quickly.“
