A Leesburg man who was deported last year was apprehended for firing a gun in a residential neighborhood.
An officer responded to gunshots fired by Bonifacio Montiel Garcia, 36, in a residential neighborhood on James Street around 9:40 p.m. Monday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department. The caller described the residence as a blue house with Christmas lights hanging outside, located in a densely populated area with several occupied residences nearby.
When the police discovered the house, he knocked on the front door. A juvenile boy replied and led a teenage girl to the door, who disputed that weapons were shot at the house. The officer then heard additional gunfire from the backyard, according to the report.
The officer moved to the back of the house, where he discovered numerous empty cans of alcohol scattered around the yard. There were four men standing in a circle, including Garcia. He was clutching a black revolver in his right hand, with the slide locked to the rear, according to the report.
He was told to drop the rifle, and he did. The officer then approached and noted obvious indicators of intoxication, such as slurred speech, unstable balance, and the odor of alcohol on his breath. When queried about the firearm, he declined to provide specifics, claiming he had no idea who owned it. He claimed to have “found it,” according to the report.
An examination of the gun’s serial number revealed that it was a Taurus G2, which had been reported stolen to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. The owner acknowledged that it was reported missing from a lockable box that no one was authorized to possess or use. According to the article, he didn’t know Garcia.
Additionally, the officer called Homeland Security Investigations and discovered Garcia had recently been deported on August 15, 2024. HSI requested that he be placed on no bond for illegal re-entry into the United States pending additional federal charges, according to the report.
Garcia was eventually arrested on counts of grand theft, weapon (discharge firearm while intoxicated) and weapon (discharge firearm in public). The Mexican native was transferred to Lake County Jail, where his bond was set at $8,500.
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