Decamp

Let’s not forget that losing our minds over suspicious planes was an American tradition long before then. Current wave of drone hysteriaA Florida man was ordered to pay $5,000 to Walmart after shooting one of the retail giant’s drones that he claimed was spying on him, News from the First Coast reports. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.

According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the saga unfolded in June, when police responded to a call made at a Walmart. There, two employees said someone shot one of their drones as they flew it over a nearby neighborhood as part of a “simulated delivery.” After the shooting, they fled toward the store, accompanied by a victim of the drone.

The sniper turned out to be 72-year-old Dennis Winn. When police showed up at his home, according to an affidavit for his arrest, Winn explained himself. He said he was outside repairing a pool pump when he heard the drone above him.

Apparently, he “had previous experiences with drones flying over his house and thought they were watching him,” he told police. First cost.

So Winn retrieved his 9mm pistol from his safe and opened fire on the aerial intruder — as one does in an area where cops say children were playing outside.

Pot shot

Winn was charged with one count of shooting or launching deadly missiles at 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 officer who announced that what he shot was not a surveillance device but a Walmart delivery drone said Winn looked “in disbelief.”

“Really?” » was Winn’s reported response. Apparently, it was difficult to accept the fact that nefarious figures weren’t really interested in his pool repairs.

Winn was also told that the drone likely cost “tens of thousands of dollars.” He had never reported the presence of drones over his property to police, but he had informed his homeowners association, he told an officer.

On Nov. 27, Winn agreed to submit a restitution order — an “admission of wrongdoing,” his lawyer claims, but not a guilty plea. A court ordered him to pay $5,000 in damages to the drone company, which he has now repaid, according to First rib.

Winn will not have to serve jail time if he is not charged with any crimes in the next six months. This, however, puts him in a bind. How is he supposed to defend himself if the “Mothership“comes after him now?

Learn more about drones: Dunce-like senator posts photo of ‘drone’ that’s actually a ‘Star Wars’ TIE fighter