Florida Man is at it again: Here are all the people he’s shot
Child’s play turns into a near-death experience when Florida Man gets his son shot in a drive-by attempt. The son’s weapon of choice? A paintball gun.
Florida has gained quite a reputation over the years as a hotspot of chaos. From the dangerous wildlife to the even more dangerous people, one never knows what to expect from the Sunshine State. There was even that one time when a Florida Man tossed a live alligator through the drive-thru window of a Wendy’s restaurant!
That was even more true for the ten-year old son of 26-year old Michael Williams. According to Williams, he was simply fulfilling his son’s request to use his paintball gun in a drive-by shooting. He further claims that his son begged him for the chance to shoot into a home where a family was gathered.
The details of this case are both terrifying and ludicrous. That it involves the infamous Florida Man makes it feel, strangely, par for the course. Let’s examine how an unfortunate tale of child endangerment became yet another Florida Man moment.
Infamous ‘Florida Man’
For some, this reads as a barely-escaped tragedy. But, for many others, it sounds like a classic case of the Florida Man. But what does that mean? Who is the Florida Man and how did he gain such a reputation for hilarious accounts of mayhem?
Many people have flocked to Miami in search of a little fun in the tropical sun. The rest go to Orlando for the Disney World experience. Despite its many tourist attractions, Florida has gained an increasingly wacky reputation due to the nature of news stories it generates.
From licking strange doorbells to death by roach-eating, the headlines have created the legacy of Florida Man. This figure exists in real life as many people in many situations. A man so wild in nature that memes are the thing that could ever truly capture him.
Florida Man memes
News stories on true crimes often include in their headlines a short summation of the primary person being accused and their origin state. It’s not unusual to see headlines including phrases such as “California woman” or “Washington man.”
It just so happens that headlines with the phrase “Florida man” seemed to involve increasingly strange cases. These headlines gained notoriety when @_FloridaMan began accumulating them on Twitter. It’s at this intersection of reality and general internet hilarity that the Florida man was born.
Roses are red
Valentine’s Day was swell https://t.co/OgNnoUXjRW— Florida Man (@_FloridaMan) February 15, 2019
Memes of the Florida Man quickly became an internet sensation due to the plethora of outlandish news stories from Florida. This has often made the very idea of the Florida Man feel more like a sensational internet concept than a real person.
He lives on as proof that the internet can find something to laugh at in even the worst situations. News stories like this, however, remind people of the often dangerous reality behind the funny headlines.
Case Status
The owner of the home mistook the child’s paintball gun for a real gun. So, he ran out to defend his family by firing his own weapon. This may or may not have led to Williams running his son over with his car.
While Williams took the child home, it was the mother that notified the Opa-Locka police. But Williams has been charged for child neglect with great bodily harm. Authorities have yet to release further details of the child’s current condition.
They say you can’t always get what you want, which is true. But sometimes, you get something you absolutely don’t want. Like Florida Man showing up to let his kid shoot a paintball at your house during Sunday dinner.
