Man mistakenly shoots pal as part of vigilance drill: Cops

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On March 20, 2024, Brad Markey-Perez accidentally shot his friend in the face at this home in Orange City, Florida, while they were testing one another’s readiness to face danger, Florida cops say. (Mug: Volusia County Jail; Screenshot: Google Maps)

Two friends in Florida played a game in which they tested each other’s readiness to face real danger. As it turned out, the only threat was to themselves.

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday arrested 25-year-old Brad Markey-Perez after he allegedly shot his pal by mistake, authorities said. Deputies responded on March 20 to a shooting at a home in Orange City. They found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the jaw. Paramedics took him to the hospital.

Markey-Perez told deputies he and the victim like to have “drills” where they “practice with each other the importance of being vigilant of their surroundings, especially while armed with a firearm,” a probable cause arrest affidavit said.

“Both own firearms and they would have ‘drills’ where one would try and get the jump on the other as a form of training. These ‘drills’ are usually performed with unloaded firearms or using ‘cap’ style ammunition that is a nonfunctioning round,” the affidavit said.

He said the victim was walking out of a kitchen with something in his hand. Markey-Perez thought the victim was holding either a baton or a kitchen knife. Thinking it was a “drill,” Markey-Perez said he stood up from the couch, unholstered his gun and pointed it at the victim, the affidavit said. It went off.

The suspect said he thinks he accidentally let off the safety and pulled the trigger, according to the affidavit.

“Markey-Perez advised he usually only keeps a round in the chamber when he goes to sleep in the event of an intruder,” the affidavit said.

Three young children, ages 1, 2 and 7, live at the home. Two of them were in the room where the shooting occurred but were not injured, deputies said.

Detectives went to the hospital to interview the victim. He was adamant he did not want to press charges against his buddy and asked that deputies stop investigating the matter. But because there were children near the incident, detectives continued to investigate.

In a second interview with deputies, the victim said that Markey-Perez told him before the shooting in a joking manner, “Bro, I could assassinate you right now in the blink of an eye,” according to the affidavit.

Despite the victim not cooperating, deputies still decided to file child abuse charges against Markey-Perez because he “reasonably should have known the results of drawing a firearm around people, not knowing if it was loaded, and could reasonably expect to result in physical or mental injury to the children,” they wrote.

He’s facing two counts of child abuse and culpable negligence. He’s at the Volusia County Jail without bond.