A suburban West Palm Beach man who saw another motorist run over a duck pointed a handgun at him, authorities allege.
Shawn Paymar, 43, was booked Sunday evening at the Palm Beach County Jail, and left Monday evening on $6,000 bond. He’s charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.
According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s report, on Sunday afternoon, Marcos Ortega, 23, told deputies his encounter with Paymar took place near Southern Boulevard and Military Trail.
Ortega, who lived nearby, said he was driving east on Wallis Road, approaching Haverhill Road, when he stopped for a group of ducks crossing the street. He said he thought the ducks had passed and started forward, but struck one.
He said a man in a blue pickup, waiting at a stop sign, drove up to him, and began screaming profanities.
Ortega’s girlfriend, Tiffani Scalise, told deputies she climbed partly out her window and started screaming at the driver. She said he then pointed a handgun at her and Ortega, shouting that they had just killed a duck.
Ortega said he drove off, running a red light. He said he did get the truck’s license tag and the phone number from a sign on the truck for Paymar’s swimming pool service. The couple also picked Paymar out of a photo lineup, the report said.
Deputies then arrested Paymar at his nearby home. He told deputies Ortega intentionally hit the ducks. He said he followed Ortega and told him he was going to call police. He said Ortega ran a red light and fled. Paymar denied having a gun.
Ortega and Paymar did not return calls Thursday.
Records show Paymar was in prison from August 2003 to April 2004 on Palm Beach County drug charges. He also spent 136 days in jail in a 2009 conviction for burglary and grand theft, and was sentenced to 18 months probation in 2001 on a drug charge.
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