An argument between a homeowner and a landscaper escalated in Central Florida Thursday morning, with one ending up arrested, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
As per court records, deputies responded to a property divided by a brick wall in Longwood, Florida, around 8:30 a.m.
The police report says that Jeffrey Perlman, 68, and the landscaper, Joseph Strickland, were on opposite sides of the wall, when a dispute arose.
At some point, Perlman got in his car and drove to the other side of the wall, where he “confronted” the worker, according to the police report.
As the two men argued, Perlman said he was going to call the cops and the landscaper reportedly answered, “Go ahead,” and that he would already be finished by the time they arrived.
That’s when Perlman returned to his car to retrieve a handgun, the arrest affidavit says. Suddenly, the victim told deputies he “heard a pop,” and “felt sand hit his leg.”
Perlman was arrested and charged with firing a weapon in public or on residential property and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
Post Miranda, Perlman told authorities that he was in “fear of his life” because Strickland “threatened” him by waving a hedge trimmer at him, and that he only fired the gun into the ground. It is noted in the police report that the suspect did not call law enforcement.
Perlman was booked into the John E. Polk Correctional Facility on $5,500 bond.