MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A 48-year-old man was arrested Sunday evening after allegedly firing multiple gunshots during a confrontation at a Boy Scout camp, according to the Martin County Sheriff's Office.
WATCH BELOW: 'He was not thinking clearly,' Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek tells WPTV
The confrontation began around 6 p.m. behind Jonathan Dickinson State Park's Boy Scout Camp located on Country Club Drive and Boy Scout Camp Road.
Investigators said Douglas Bunker, and three men and a woman, jumped a fence from the North Passage development to access a pond inside the camp property. The group had gathered to mourn the loss of Bunker's nephew, who was killed in a fiery crash, and wanted to fish and drink beer in memory of their loss, according to Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek.
A park ranger, who works for the Boy Scout park, discovered the group on the property and told them they could not fish there and needed to leave. Most of the group began climbing back over the fence, however, Bunker continued arguing with the ranger about the fishing restrictions before shots were fired. One of the friends called police and told deputies he heard about four gunshots, while preparing to climb the fence himself.
Region Martin County
SWAT ends standoff after man fires at park ranger
"Our suspect, who had been drinking heavily, grieving the loss of his nephew, started an argument with the ranger," Budensiek said. "The ranger did his job, asked him to leave, stood his ground, and at some point in there, the suspect brandished a firearm, a 9 mm handgun, and fired between four and five rounds."
The sheriff added that the ranger's 9-year-old son was present at the time of the shooting and was sitting in the truck.
Bunker, and his brother, left and made their way to their mother's home in the North Passage community in Tequesta.
Budensiek said authorities attempted to contact Bunker by phone but were unsuccessful.
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"They tried over 70 times to engage him in a telephone conversation. That did not happen," he said. "Eventually, mom came out and interacted with our deputies, and we tried to use her as what we call TPI, third-party intermediary, to try to talk sense into her son and just say, hey, come out and let's resolve this peacefully."
Bunker refused to cooperate and told the deputy to "come inside and arrest me," according to the report.
Deputies said due to Bunker's lack of cooperation, the SWAT team was called to assist with the arrest and Bunker eventually came out of the and was taken into custody.
Budensiek said Martin County has experienced four traffic fatalities in just 12 days of 2026, involving victims aged 16, 17, 20, and 21, compared to 22 total fatalities for all of 2025. The most recent victim was Bunker's 21-year-old nephew.
Traffic News
1 dead, 2 hurt in Martin County crash
The sheriff said the nephew died in a high-speed crash on Highway 710 in Indiantown, while attempting to pass a semi-truck in a no-passing zone near the FPL entrance.
"Good Samaritan that stopped to pull him out of a burning car. Car is almost fully engulfed and our deputies pulled for several minutes with that good Samaritan trying to get him and they're able to get him out, remove him from the vehicle," Budensiek said. "They tried to do life-saving measures, but unfortunately because of the impact of that crash alone, they were unable to save his life."
Another traffic-related fatality occurred in Martin County Monday afternoon, marking the fifth one in the past two weeks.
