A Wildwood man has been arrested on an attempted murder charge following a shooting at a local apartment complex that left one person hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Christopher Joseph Johnson, 42, was taken into custody late Monday night following the violent altercation at the Sundance Trail Apartments in the Beaumont development on County Road 466A.
According to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department, officers originally responded to the complex at about 10 p.m. in reference to a criminal mischief call.
Ring doorbell footage provided by a witness captured the events leading up to the gunfire. The video showed the victim using a metal object to smash the windshield of his ex-wife’s car. As the victim attempted to walk away toward the complex’s only exit, the camera captured Johnson, who is the woman’s boyfriend, jogging along the sidewalk to get ahead of his girlfriend’s ex-husband without announcing himself.
Both men briefly stepped out of the camera’s view before a single gunshot rang out. The report noted there was no verbal communication between the two men before the shot was fired.
When officers arrived on the scene, they found the ex-husband lying upright in the roadway, suffering from a gunshot wound to his lower right rib area. While an officer provided emergency medical aid, the victim pointed to Johnson, who was sitting quietly on a curb about 10 feet away, and identified him as the shooter.
A firearm was found on the ground approximately five feet from the bleeding victim and three feet from Johnson.
The victim was transported as a trauma alert to Ocala Regional Medical Center.
After being detained and read his Miranda rights, Johnson refused to speak with law enforcement.
He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on a felony charge of attempted felony murder and a misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm on residential property. He is currently being held without bond.