Florida man ‘lucky he didn’t kill somebody’ trying out concrete-piercing rifle ammo downtown
![AR-15 round (WESH/screen grab)](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20141023000857im_/http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/wesh_assault_rifle_141022c-800x430.jpg)
Investigators in Orlando are trying to build a case against a man who was caught on video firing a military-style assault rifle in a downtown office building.
According to WESH, Orlando city leaders received video from a whistleblower of a man target practicing in a building that Crusader’s Contracting was hired to demolish. The whistleblower said that his boss “had many guns on the job site and would frequently shoot things in the basement and other areas in the building.”
Detectives were “working to figure out charges, if any,” an Orlando Police Department spokesperson told WESH. “At best, they will have Improper Exhibition. Punishable by up to 1 year in jail.”
Zach Hudson of Defensive Tactics Solutions, who spent 30 years as a police officer, pointed out that firing this type of weapon in an urban setting was extremely dangerous.
“[It is] very, very foolish,” Hudson remarked after seeing the video. “He is lucky he didn’t kill somebody.”
“This is a military grade weapon. This is a round designed to travel up to 800 meters. You are talking about a round that can go through concrete.”
Hudson also observed that the firing rate of the rifle suggested that it had been modified to be fully automatic.
“If those weapons has been modified in any way that becomes a federal crime,” he said.
But Florida law requires investigators to prove that the weapon was fully functional, and they had not been able to obtain the rifle for testing.
WESH reported that the suspect was no longer working on the demolition job.
Watch the video below from WESH, broadcast Oct. 22, 2014.