A 43-year-old Florida man has been arrested and accused of pointing a gun at a group of kids for making waves near his boat.
Christopher Evensen, 43, was operating his boat along the Intracoastal Waterway off the east coast of Florida on Saturday when the kids made a wake nearby, causing Evensen to become “irate,” the New Smyrna Beach Police Department said in a recent Facebook post, citing the victims' accounts.
“The man reportedly pointed a handgun at the juveniles and made verbal threats, stating he would shoot them,” the post read.
Several kids who were on the water during the incident claimed Evensen pointed the gun at them while “yelling threats,” New Smyrna Beach police said.
According to a police report obtained by local outlet WSVN, cellphone footage of the incident showed a man on a boat reaching into his pocket for a silver and black item that resembled a “semi automatic handgun.”
Witness Kevin Buchans, who said he didn’t see the gun, told WSVN, “He was threatening them all, ‘Come over here to the boat ramp, come park your boat, and I’ll kill all y’all.’”
“He’s an adult, he should know better,” Bunchans said.
New Smyrna Beach police said Evensen was seen trailing his boat after the alleged incident, and police eventually found his car at a local home. He was arrested and charged with five counts of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Improper Exhibition of a Dangerous Weapon.
Evensen admitted to police he did scream at the kids and acted “stupid,” but refuted the weapon claim, saying he didn’t even have a gun on him, per WSVN. The outlet said Evensen had first told authorities he didn’t own a gun, but later said that was false.
It is unclear whether Evensen has legal representation.
Buchans said, shortly after Evensen yelled at the kids, he offered him whiskey.
“‘That might be why you’re in an argument with these other people in the boat, because you sound like you’ve had too much to drink already,’ is what I told him,” Buchans recalled.
Evensen was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail, and local outlet WESH said he posted his $25,500 bail.
