Florida man faces felony charges for pointing a gun at another Walmart buyer who had told him to wear a mask
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Florida man faces felony charges for pointing a gun at another Walmart buyer who had told him to wear a mask, officials said Thursday.
Vincent Scavetta, 28, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and improper display of a firearm after surrendering to Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputies on Wednesday. At a hearing Thursday, bail was set at $ 15,000.
According to an arrest report, Scavetta admitted to sheriff’s investigators that he was the buyer in a surveillance video that he pulled out a gun during a July 12 argument with Chris Estrada, who had told him to wear a mask due to the pandemic of coronavirus. Palm Beach County requires that masks be worn in stores.
Scavetta, a software developer, told investigators that he had been wearing a mask, but he got wet in the rain when he pushed his father in a wheelchair across the parking lot toward the Royal Palm Beach store. That made it difficult to breathe and clouded his glasses, so he took it off, he told investigators.
The discussion started when Estrada’s little daughter almost meets Scavetta and her father. The men agreed in their statements that Estrada told Scavetta that she should wear a mask and Scavetta cursed her. Estrada told Scavetta not to curse in front of her daughter.
The video shows the men were about 10 feet (3 meters) away and were shouting obscenities at each other, when Scavetta raised his middle finger towards Estrada, who advanced towards Scavetta pointing his umbrella, investigators said. Another buyer interceded and Scavetta started to walk away. Estrada said something else to Scavetta, who pulled a gun from his waist and pointed it at Estrada, whose daughter grabbed his hand and tried to push him away.
Scavetta said that Estrada had threatened him and his father and hit him on the forehead with the tip of his umbrella. Scavetta, who has a concealed weapons permit, told investigators that he pulled out his .40 caliber pistol because he feared for his life. He said he holstered his gun and that he and his father left the store.
He told detectives that he felt bad that he scared Estrada’s daughter by shooting her father.
Estrada told detectives that he did not want to press charges, but he wanted Scavetta to lose his concealed weapons permit. Detectives told Scavetta’s attorney that no charges would likely be filed if Scavetta waived his permission, but Scavetta declined. Prosecutors then decided to press charges.
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