Retiree Who Shot Walmart Drone In Plea Deal

DECEMBER 9--The 72-year-old retiree who used his 9mm handgun to shoot a Walmart delivery drone hovering near his Florida home has struck a plea deal that could result in the eventual dismissal of felony and misdemeanor counts, court records show.

Dennis Winn will enter a pretrial intervention program offered by prosecutors that, upon successful completion, will result in the dropping of criminal charges. The PTI program, which is similar to probation, is offered to defendants with no significant criminal history.

In a PTI contract signed by Winn and prosecutors, the defendant admitted his guilt and agreed to perform 25 hours of community service. At the conclusion of the PTI program--which could be as short as 90 days--“State will not object to return of Defendant’s firearm in evidence.”

During a November 27 court conference, Winn was also ordered to immediately pay $5000 in restitution to DroneUp Delivery, the Virginia firm (and Walmart partner) that owned the drone struck by the single bullet fired from Winn’s Sig Sauer pistol.

Winn was charged in a criminal information with discharging a firearm in public, a misdemeanor, and criminal mischief, a third degree felony since damage to the drone’s payload system exceeded $1000.

Winn, a former New Jersey fire captain, was arrested in late-June at his home in Clermont, an Orlando suburb, after DroneUp employees told cops that their drone was fired upon while it flew over a residential area. A two-man DroneUp team was in the neighborhood conducting “mock deliveries...to attract business and interest” in the new Walmart program.

The drone had been flying at a height of 230 feet before it dropped down to 75 feet to demonstrate the deployment of a cable to which a Walmart package would be attached.

Winn (seen at right) told investigators that he was “working on his pool equipment” when he heard the drone whirring in front of his home. After trying to “shoo off” the drone, Winn said, he retrieved his firearm from a gun safe and fired. “Now they say I hit it, so I must be a good shot,” he said, according to a police bodycam recording that captured Winn’s confession (“Yes, I shot at it”) and a query: “How much trouble am I in?”

Claiming that he was unaware the drone was part of the Walmart fleet, Winn explained that he had “past experiences with drones flying over his house and believed they were surveilling him.” He did not further explain why he thought his home on a quiet cul-de-sac--purchased for about $500,000 in 2007--was the target of prior aerial monitoring.

When the DroneUp workers heard gunfire--and saw Winn “holding a handgun towards the sky”--they ran back to their van, while the drone returned to a Walmart Supercenter about four miles away (or about two by air).

While Winn, cops say, acknowledged the “reckless nature of his actions,” he made an odd comment while officers gently handcuffed him in front. “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” Winn laughed, to no reaction from sheriff’s deputies. (3 pages)