Investigation ordered after Florida homeowner shoots at Instacart driver

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — A South Florida prosecutor has ordered an investigation after a homeowner fired shots into the vehicle of a couple delivering groceries when they mistakenly pulled onto his property.

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In a statement, Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor said that police never contacted his office about the April 15 shooting in Southwest Ranches, located southwest of Fort Lauderdale, that put two bullets into the vehicle of the couple making an Instacart grocery delivery.

On Friday, police said they completed their investigation and said charges would not be filed, WTVJ reported.

“I contacted the Davie Police Department to request a full investigation,” Pryor said Friday. He added that his prosecutors will decide whether charges should be filed, according to The Associated Press.

Davie police contracts with Southwest Ranches to provide service, according to the news organization.

According to reports released by Davie police on Friday, Waldes Thomas Jr., 19, was driving with his passenger, Diamond Harley Darville, 18, to deliver groceries in the late evening hours of April 15 when they drove onto the wrong property, WTVJ reported.

The reports said they ended up on the property of 43-year-old Antonio Caccavale, according to the television station.

There are conflicting reports after that.

Caccavale’s 12-year-old son approached them, and the couple said when they attempted to put the Honda Civic in reverse they struck a boulder, NPR reported.

Thomas and Darville then claimed that Caccavale approached the vehicle and grabbed at the driver’s side window, the news outlet reported.

“He’s like, ‘Who are you?’ and we’re saying we’re with Instacart,” Darville told WTVJ.

Caccavale told police he saw a car driving erratically on the property. He claimed that the vehicle drove in his direction and ran over his foot, causing him to dive out of the way, ABC News reported.

Caccavale told police he drew his Smith & Wesson Shield handgun and fired several rounds at the vehicle’s tires as it drove away, NPR reported.

Darville and Thomas told WTVJ that they were “terrified” when they left and only realized they had been shot at when they pulled over a few blocks from the alleged altercation.

“I had seen him pull out a gun and that’s when I said, ‘We got to go, we got to go,’” Darville told the television station. “I was scared, I’m not going to lie.”

Darville did not respond to a telephone call or emails from the AP.

An officer arriving at the scene said there were two bullet holes in the Civic’s bumper and one tire was flat, according to the AP.

No one was injured.

“We were there for Instacart, we were trying to tell him, and he went about it the wrong way,” Thomas told the television station. “Instead of just calling police, saying, ‘I have trespassers on my lawn,’ he decided to shoot.”

According to the incident report, Caccavale’s neighbor said he heard gunshots before the couple drove away.

The man allegedly told Caccavale that the vehicle was delivering groceries that his wife had ordered, WTVJ reported.

Police said in their report that it was unclear if a crime had occurred.

“Each party appear justified in their actions based on the circumstances they perceived,” police said, according to NPR.

The incident is the latest of similar shootings that have over the past few weeks.

In Texas, two cheerleaders were shot when one of them mistakenly entered the wrong vehicle in a parking lot. In North Carolina, a man is accused of shooting a 6-year-old girl and her parents when they were retrieving a basketball that had rolled into his yard. A group looking for a friend’s house in upstate New York pulled into the wrong driveway and a woman was fatally shot.

In Kansas City, a 16-year-old teen who went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings was shot by an 84-year-old man.

Pryor called the incident in Broward County “very disturbing,” adding that he is waiting for Davie police to send over their reports and findings, NPR reported.

In a statement, Broward County State Attorney Harold F. Pryor called the incident “very disturbing” and said his office requested a full investigation and legal review from the police department. He said the police had not yet sent over their reports and findings as of Sunday.

“Once the police investigation is completed and forwarded to my office, prosecutors will conduct a thorough review of all of the facts presented, the evidence, and the applicable law,” Pryor said in his statement. “Prosecutors will then make a decision about whether criminal charges should be filed.”