A Wildwood man was arrested for assault after allegedly pointing a sawed-off shotgun at a yard crew cleaning up the property where he was squatting.
A deputy responded to an assault involving 35-year-old Clinton Wesley Smart at County Road 230C in Wildwood around 1:40 p.m. Monday, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
A yard crew had been mowing and cleaning up the property as the landlord requested when Smart came outside with a sawed-off shotgun. He pointed it at one of the crew members, telling them to get off the lawn or he would shoot them. They hurriedly left, abandoned their lawnmower and called 911, the report said.
The crew member feared Smart was going to shoot him when he pointed the shotgun at him. A coworker corroborated that he was over by a push mower when Smart came outside. Smart threatened to shoot the crew member with a black barrel sawed-off shotgun. The fore-end was either partially or completely green, the report said.
The landlord later advised that she was at the residence the day before after receiving a notice from the county to cut the grass and clean up the property. Her previous tenant had already left, and to her surprise she found Smart “squatting” in the home. She told him he could not be there and needed to leave, the report said.
She also told deputies she would be starting an official eviction of Smart through the court system. He was not on the previous lease, and she was unaware he was staying there up to this point, the report said.
Smart was arrested on charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. He was transported to the Sumter County Detention Center with bond set at $15,000.