Florida father, son shoot at woman they thought was a burglar after neighbor delivered package, sheriff says

A Florida father and his 15-year-old son were arrested on attempted murder charges after police say the two shot at an innocent woman they thought was trying to break into their home after a neighbor dropped off a misdelivered package to their home. 

The incident began Saturday morning in Winter Haven, less than 50 miles southwest of Orlando, when a neighbor of 73-year-old Gino Colonacosta noticed they received a package of prescription medication in the mail meant for the Colonacosta family. The neighbor went to the Colonacosta residence and left the package on the front door handle, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news conference. 

The home was equipped with a Ring doorbell camera, and after Colonacosta and his son got a notification on their phone of the camera movement, the two grabbed their firearms and pursued what they suspected to be a burglar, Judd said. 

Colonacosta and his son exited their home and walked around the apartment building complex looking for a suspect, and later found a woman “minding her own business” on her phone inside a parked vehicle, the sheriff said. An affidavit provided to USA TODAY added the woman lived in the complex and just had returned home in her designated parking space.

“When she looks up and she sees Gino standing at the back of her vehicle with a gun pointed at her, screaming for her to get out of the car, she thinks ‘he’s about to carjack me, he’s gonna rob me,'” Judd said. 

The woman put her car in reverse to get away and back into another vehicle, authorities said. Colonacosta’s son, who was checking other parts of the complex, heard commotion from his father and went to him. When he arrived, authorities said the 15-year-old thought the car was trying to hit his dad and he fired several shots at the car. The woman was able to speed away, as the two fired a total of seven shots at the car.