There was a very close call for a group of teens in Florida after a man misinterpreted their playing Pokemon Go as a robbery attempt – and opened fire on their car.
The Flagler County Sherriff’s department says the incident occurred around 2:00 a.m. Saturday when a man, whose name is being withheld, noticed a white car sitting at the end of his driveway.
According to a report from the Flagler County Sherriff’s department, the man armed himself with a pistol and went outside to investigate. As he approached the car, he told police he overhead something which sounded like “did you get anything?” coming from the occupants of the vehicle.
The man then told police he jumped in front of the stopped vehicle and demanded it not move. When the vehicle began to accelerate forward, he fired several shots at it and its occupants.
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But police were not involved until 10:00 a.m., when a 19-year-old man informed his parents that he and a 16-year-old friend had been playing the popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go on their phones, when they were approached and shot at.
The kids were forced to come clean after parents noticed a flat tire and several bullet holes in the car. Neither the teens nor the homeowner were seriously injured.
“We could have had two dead young kids because of them looking for Pokemon,” Jim Troiano, a spokesman with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Department, told WESH News.
“It’s a great game. I’ve never played it, (but) my daughter plays. We urge safety with that, but this is ridiculous.”
Investigators are still looking into the case, and the homeowner has not been charged with a crime. Police are also investigating whether the teens could have crossed into the man’s property during their time chasing Pokemon.
“We don’t want homeowners coming out of their homes challenging people in the street because they suspect something may have happened,” Troiano said.
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