LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — The 72-year-old Lake County man who shot a Walmart drone he believed to be surveilling him has been ordered to pay the retail chain $5,000.
Dennis Winn was charged with one count of shooting or throwing deadly missiles into dwellings, vessels or vehicles, one count of criminal mischief causing $1,000 or more in damage and one count of discharging a firearm in public or on residential property.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office was called to a Walmart on Johns Lake Road in Clermont on June 26. Two workers with a drone delivery service that works with Walmart told police someone had shot at one of their drones while it was flying over a home in the Overlook at Lake Louisa neighborhood. They were conducting a "mock delivery" at the time.
The workers told police after the drone was shot, they fled back to Walmart and flew the drone back to the store.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office went to meet with Winn after the incident. According to an affidavit for Winn's arrest, he said he was outside fixing a pool pump when he heard the drone overhead. He told police "he had past experiences with drones flying over his house and believed they were surveilling him." He then went inside to get a 9mm pistol out of his gun safe and shot at the drone.
Police said there were children playing in the area at the time.
The officer who interviewed Winn said that when he informed Winn he had shot a Walmart drone, he looked "in disbelief" and said "Really?"
The affidavit says that the officer told Winn the drone "was likely tens of thousands of dollars." The officer asked Winn if he had ever reported an issue with drones to the police, and he said no, but he had told his HOA.
While he waited for the police to take him to jail, Winn yelled to a neighbor that he was "going to jail for shooting a drone," the affidavit said.
On Nov. 27, Winn agreed to submit to a restitution order. His attorney described this as an "admission of wrongdoing," but not a guilty plea. The Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit ordered him to pay $5,000 to the drone company for the damage to the drone, which he has now paid.
If he is not charged with any other crimes within six months, he will not serve any jail time.
