VERO BEACH, Fla. — Florida is no stranger to crazy headlines — and we’re following a pretty wild story out of Indian River County.
Sheriff Eric Flowers tells WPTV they arrested Brandon Harnois for using his backyard as a shooting range.
The neighborhood is called Westfield, off 16th Street in Vero Beach. It's near homes and even a youth church camp — and luckily, no one was hurt.
A deputy was on patrol Sunday night and just happened to be passing by when he saw tracer rounds fired out of an AR-15-style rifle — they look like fireworks — flying right over busy 16th Street.
"The idea that somebody is shooting in their backyard here is not normal. This is not normal behavior. This is something that's very, very concerning to us," said Sheriff Flowers.
FPL says it’s going to cost thousands to replace a nearby utility pole hit by the gunfire. There was also reported bullet damage to cabins at the youth camp across the street.
The SWAT team was called out and arrested the man at gunpoint. Once they knocked the door down, investigators found a lot of weapons: guns, ammo, a ghost gun, illegal suppressors made from oil cans, a hand grenade and even a few live and unregistered cobras.
Now the ATF and FWC are involved in the investigation — the sheriff says the man wasn’t even supposed to have guns in the first place.
"He was not supposed to have any weapons. He was arrested back in January for a charge of that, so it's clear that he knew he was not allowed to have weapons. And the volume of weapons and types that he had, really disturbing for somebody who knew they weren't supposed to have those," said Sheriff Flowers.
At a press conference Thursday, the sheriff said Harnois is facing the following charges:
- Shooting deadly missiles into dwellings, vehicles, buildings, or aircraft
- Firing projectile across private land
- Firing weapon in public or on residential property
- Violation of domestic violence injunction
- Resisting an officer without violence
The sheriff said during the press conference that two more search warrants were issued for Harnois' business and storage units. They recovered more weapons and body armor.
They expect more charges to come, including state and federal charges. It's still an active investigation.
