72-year-old man shoots at Walmart delivery drone and gets arrested, Florida cops say

A Walmart delivery drone came under fire when it passed over a 72-year-old man’s Florida home, and he was apparently a good shot, according to investigators.

“A bullet hole was discovered in the payload the drone was carrying,” the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said in a June 27 news release.

The shooting happened Wednesday, June 26, in the Clermont area, and the man’s charges include second- and third-degree felonies, officials said. Clermont is about a 25-mile drive west of Orlando, and it’s home to a Walmart Supercenter.

“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint in the Clermont area regarding a Walmart delivery drone being shot,” the sheriff’s office reported.

“Witnesses identified the defendant ... and directed deputies to his residence, the incident location. ... The suspect admitted to shooting at the drone once with a 9mm pistol.”

He was arrested and faces one count of shooting or throwing a deadly missile into dwellings, vessels or vehicles (a second-degree felony), one count of criminal mischief $1,000 or more in damage (a third-degree felony) and one misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm in public or on residential property, records show.

Investigators did not release a motive and have not said what the drone was delivering.

Walmart offers “DroneUp delivery” in only in a few markets, among them the Orlando area of Florida. Parcels up to 10 pounds are delivered between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., by “certified pilots” operating within Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, the company says.

“Once a customer places an order, the item is fulfilled from the store, packaged, loaded into the drone and delivered right to their yard using a cable that gently lowers the package,” Walmart reports.

This story was originally published June 27, 2024 at 2:55 PM with the headline "72-year-old man shoots at Walmart delivery drone and gets arrested, Florida cops say."