SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Pinecrest resident was stunned to find her neighbor shooting at ducks with an air rifle, and to make matters worse, she found herself in the line of fire.
Annie Gelbard said she heard gunshots go off early Monday morning. When she went to investigate, she saw her neighbor across her backyard canal shooting at ducks in the water.
“I heard the bullet very clearly hit the water and then ricochet directly past me,” Gelbard said.
Cellphone video showed the man cocking what is thought to be an air rifle before aiming at a Muscovy duck.
“I leaned over the fence to see what was going on, and I saw him shoot a duck,” Gelbard said. “He had made a very bad shot in this duck. He probably hit him in the head. The duck went under water and appeared to be drowning. At that point, he shot at another duck.”
Gelbard said she recognized the sound of the gun. “My father actually has the same air rifle, the same style of air rifle,” she said. “You can kind of tell by the sound. The CO2 sound when it shoots is very distinctive, so I could tell after I watched the video and was kind of more calm than in the moment that it was an air rifle.”
Gelbard told 7News that the shots were too close for comfort for her.
“I took video of the whole thing, and you can hear the pellet go directly by my head,” she said. “It was quite terrifying.”
She then called police.
“I called the police, they came, they took a look around and said, ‘Well, it looks like he was shooting at the ducks,’ and I said, ‘Well, he shouldn’t be shooting in my direction,'” Gelbard said. “Any safe gun owner would know that you don’t shoot in the direction of another person, and he did clearly see me, so I’m not sure why he decided it was still a good idea to shoot in this direction.”
The man who was caught on camera declined to speak with a 7News crew.
“Because these ducks are not native to the area, they’re not protected, but it is still an animal,” Gelbard said.
As police investigate this incident, Gelbard said she’s concerned for the ducks and her own safety.
“I was terrified. I have never had anything fly by me that fast, and I used to play fastpitch softball,” she said. “People hit them at me for thrill. Nothing ever came that close to me in my life.”
Pinecrest Police have not released their report as yet. Gelbard said she hopes they will take action.
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