An AR-style rifle and numerous rounds of ammunition were seized after shots were fired at a home in Fruitland Park.
Police responded at 3:41 a.m. Wednesday to a residence in the 600 block of Smith Street following reports of shots fired inside an occupied home, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department.
Upon arrival, officers established a perimeter and issued verbal commands for the occupants to exit the residence. Seven individuals safely exited the home and advised officers that one person remained inside.
The remaining occupant, identified as 33-year-old Daniel Villegas, was contacted by telephone and, after several minutes of communication with law enforcement, exited the residence without incident. He was taken into custody.
The preliminary investigation determined that an argument inside the residence escalated into an armed confrontation. Villegas pointed a handgun at another occupant before retrieving an AR-style rifle and firing multiple rounds inside the occupied residence. No individuals were struck by the gunfire, and no injuries were reported.
During the investigation, detectives also learned that Villegas had allegedly made threats against the victim earlier in the day.
Based on the investigation, Villegas was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, improper exhibition of a firearm, shooting into an occupied dwelling, and resisting an officer without violence.
A search warrant was served on the residence, where four guns and copious amounts of ammunition were located in the suspect’s room.
Villegas was previously arrested in March on a drug charge.