ORANGE CITY, Fla. – A Volusia County man is facing charges after deputies say he accidentally shot a roommate in front of two small children, mistaking comments the victim made as part of an ongoing series of drills to “stay vigilant.”
Brad Markey-Perez, 25, was arrested Tuesday for the March 20 incident at a home on Sixth Street in Orange City.
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According to an affidavit, Markey-Perez was in his living room when the victim came out of the kitchen and reportedly said, “Bro, I could assassinate you right now in the blink of an eye.”
The report says Markey-Perez told deputies he thought the victim had something in his hand, so he rose and pointed a handgun at him and accidentally hit the trigger. However, deputies said the gun safety was off and a bullet struck the victim in the jaw.
The roommate was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The roommates confirmed that they often conduct “drills” to stay vigilant in their surroundings by trying to get the jump on each other. Usually, the guns are not loaded, or they use nonfunctioning rounds, officials said.
The victim does not want to press charges, however, the shooting happened in front of two young children. The mother of the children told deputies that she has frequently asked the men to stop performing these “drills.”
Markey-Perez is not facing charges in the shooting, but he faces two counts of felony child abuse and one count of culpable negligence for firing a gun in front of the children and not knowing it was loaded. He was arrested after detectives obtained a warrant for these charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
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