Man threatens kids with air rifle

Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 58 year old Tavernier man Thursday evening after he threatened neighborhood kids with an air rifle.

According to a number of witnesses, including the 11 and 14 year old victims, the kids were walking down West Indies Road in Tavernier at 7:15 p.m. when the incident took place. The suspect, James Joyce, says the kids were going through property he had put out on the street as trash; the kids say they were just walking on the street.

Joyce reportedly saw the kids in front of his house on the street and yelled at them to get away from his property; when they did not immediately leave, he went inside, retrieved what looked to the kids and neighbors like a black rifle, and began waving it around. The witnesses say he was yelling, “Go ahead, call the cops, this is my street and I will protect it.” The kids ran home and told their parents. The parents went outside and also saw Joyce with the gun and heard him yell, “keep your kids inside, go ahead and call the cops, I run this street not the cops.”

When Deputies Christopher Kilmurray, Jason Far, Eric Viergutz and Sgt. Scott Ward arrived, they approached the suspects house, finding he and his wife sitting at the bottom of a stairway. The wife cooperated with orders to put her hands up and walk toward the deputies slowly. Joyce did not cooperate, but he was taken into custody without incident. The black air rifle was found inside the house beside the front door.

Joyce was arrested, charged with aggravated assault and resisting a law enforcement officer. He was booked into jail.

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