Try This One Wierd Trick to Increase Your Chances of Being Shot by a Homeowner in Florida

Florida teens from Hillsborough County have added balaclavas and Airsoft guns to what used to be called doorbell-ditch. Now, rather than just ringing the doorbell and running, the masked teens kick the front door and fire several Airsoft rounds at the homes before running away, as a video shows.  

The events were captured by the victim’s doorbell camera in Riverview, Florida last Friday. 

The “gunman” approached the front door wearing a ski mask while armed with an Airsoft carbine. He kicks the front door, fires several rounds and then runs away. 

Neighbors had seen the group earlier. One woman asked them what they were doing, and someone from the group told her to “mind her own business.” She called police instead. 

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies are trying to locate the offenders, who did not live in the neighborhood where they fired the shots. Anyone who recognizes the suspects is asked to call Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detectives at (813) 247-8200.

Takeaways

Florida is perhaps one of the worst states in the nation to try this for this new-ish crime trend, Hillsborough County in particular. 

The county has an overall crime rate of 17.02 per 1,000 residents. Its violent crime rate is 27.3 per 1,000 residents, and its property crime rate is 48.9 per 1,000 residents. These levels are higher than national averages, so many county residents are well prepared for criminals. 

Florida’s (real) gun ownership rate is nationally known—second only to Texas. Many Floridians are armed all of the time, even while at home. 

It can only be hoped that the offenders’ parents act before one of these youths encounter a homeowner who is armed with something that doesn’t just shoot plastic pellets. 

 

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This story is part of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and is published here with their permission.