Police in South Florida announced they will not charge a neighbor for shooting at a car being used by a black man who was making an Instacart delivery and accidentally ended up at the wrong address.
The police report stated that the driver, Waldes Thomas Jr. and his girlfriend, Diamond Harley D’arville were attempting to make a grocery delivery on the evening of April 15 and were talking to the customer’s wife on a cellphone for navigation help when the incident took place.
Officials in Davie, announced Friday that charges would not be recommended against the gunman, Antonio Caccavale,43, because his actions were justified by his fear. “Each party appear justified in their actions based on the circumstances they perceived,” Detective Patrick Di Cintio said.
After the Honda Civic stopped on Caccavale’s property, next door to the target of the delivery, the home of Instacart customer Daniel Orta, Caccavale’s son came out at his father’s behest to tell the pair in the car to stay off the property, according to the report.
It’s not entirely clear what happened next, and in what order, but the driver and his companion said that Caccavale approached them aggressively, prompting their hasty exit, according to the document. The duo said Caccavale had grabbed or otherwise latched on to the vehicle as it was moving, the report stated.
-Shot for ringing wrong doorbell
-Shot for driving up the wrong driveway
-Shot for getting into the wrong car
-Shot because basketball rolled onto lawn
-Now: shot at because driver pulled into driveway next door to delivery address.https://t.co/UC9uTVRkMX— Mubin Shaikh (@MrMubinShaikh) April 23, 2023
Caccavale’s foot was struck by the Civic, according to the police report, and Caccavale said he opened fire after that in order to prevent more injury and protect his family from the vehicle.
The resident said he had aimed his semiautomatic Smith & Wesson handgun at the vehicle’s tires in an attempt to disable it as a threat, the report said.
Yet another gun incident after someome pulls into the wrong driveway. Why do people feel its necessary to pull a gun on people that have made no threatening gestures? An Instacart driver simply pulled into the wrong driveway. Even worse no charges r filedhttps://t.co/8ZG08MYTYN
— ASingleVoice (@MySingleVoice) April 24, 2023
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“He stated that he shot out three rounds at the vehicle after the vehicle struck him,” the police report stated. “He stated he fired his gun at the vehicle because he was in fear for his and his children’s safety.”
The Civic exited the property, and officers found it a few blocks away stopped on railroad tracks, the report stated. There were indications of round impacts on the car, and one tire was flat, it said.