A Florida man was put behind bars for shooting at a woman more than a dozen times after she visited his house accidentally while looking for a friend’s home in the same neighborhood.
The shooting suspect, 50-year-old Roman Rawicki, was jailed on several charges, including attempted murder, battery, false imprisonment, discharging a firearm on a residential property, and criminal mischief.
According to an arrest affidavit cited by the Miami Herald, the victim told Palm Bay Police that she was driving to her friend’s home for the first time around 10 p.m. on Aug. 31 when she got lost and ended up at Rawicki’s home.
She realized she was at the wrong home when she started walking up the driveway. By the time she stopped to walk back to her car, Rawicki, who was outside at the time, attacked her, investigators say.
He allegedly grabbed her by the wrist and pinned her arm behind her back. When the victim screamed for help, her friend rushed over to help.
Rawicki threw the woman to the ground, went inside his home, and returned with a firearm, the arrest affidavit states.
When the victim and her friend ran to the victim’s car to escape, police say Rawicki started shooting at the car as the victims fled.
Authorities found 17 shell casings in front of his home.
Neither victim sustained gunshot wounds in the incident. The woman Rawicki attacked sustained bruises to her wrist and arm, and her bracelet was broken. One of her tires caught a flat after a bullet struck it. Damage to her car was estimated to exceed $1,000, according to police.
Rawicki called the police to confess that he was the shooter and later explained his reasoning for taking such excessive measures.
“Rawicki called 911 on a recorded line where he confirmed he was the shooter, advising that he has a ‘no soliciting’ sign,” police wrote in the affidavit. “However, he also expressed understanding that (the woman) was at the wrong house by mistake.”
In a post-Miranda interview, Rawicki told investigators that he thought the woman was a sex worker when she approached him in the driveway, and he attacked her “out of fear for his wife’s safety,” officers said.
Rawicki bonded out of jail on Sept. 3.
