Florida man accused of threatening to shoot student driver for cutting him off in traffic
A Deltona man was arrested Wednesday, accused of threatening to shoot a student driver and their father for accidentally cutting him off in traffic.
▶ WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to a Publix on Doyle Rd. in Deltona just after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday for reports of a confrontation taking place between the occupants of two vehicles.
The first deputy on scene spoke to one of the victims who said he was in the passenger seat of a black Lexus as his daughter- who had a learner’s permit- was learning to drive.
READ: Student hospitalized after ‘altercation’ at Cypress Creek High School in Orange County
Deputies say the victim told them he and his daughter were traveling northbound on Braddock Rd., headed towards Doyle Rd., when his daughter entered the intersection, convinced they had the right of way.
Once the father noticed the mistake, deputies say he attempted to correct the situation by getting the vehicle out of the roadway, but the maneuver caused them to cut off a white SUV that was traveling eastbound on Doyle Rd.
See a map of the area below:
The driver of the SUV, later identified as 59-year-old Mark Vierra, was described by the victim as a middle-aged man wearing a Boston Bruins shirt. The victim told deputies Vierra began to yell at him and his daughter as they tried to explain the mistake and asked him to move along.
Deputies say Vierra drove away briefly, then made a U-turn and blocked the victims in with his SUV.
That’s when the victim said Vierra continued to yell at him and his daughter, and stated that he would shoot them both as he brandished a pistol in its holster before driving away from the area.
READ: SpaceX set to launch missile warning satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral
A deputy spoke to the student driver who said the incident scared her to the extent that she no longer wanted to drive.
The victim provided deputies with the tag information for Vierra’s SUV, which led them to his home in Deltona where the SUV was parked in the driveway.
As deputies approached, a man wearing the same Boston Bruins shirt the victims described came out of the house and identified himself.
The deputies patted Vierra down and found a black, Ruger LCP pistol with a black holster in his pocket.
Under questioning, deputies say Vierra initially denied having his gun on him during the incident, but later admitted he did have it and claimed there was no way the victims could have seen it.
READ: Seminole County Fire, Sheriff’s Office train with U.S. Navy
Based on statements from the victims and a witness, deputies found cause to arrest Vierra on two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, possession of firearm while committing a third-degree felony, and improper exhibition of a firearm.
Vierra was booked into the Volusia County Jail just after midnight Wednesday and has since been released on a total of $16,000 bond.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
