FELLSMERE — A woman was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after authorities said she pointed what appeared to be a rifle at a dirt bike rider, prompting fears she might shoot him, according to court records.
Marise Ajmo, 59, was taken into custody Saturday afternoon in Fellsmere following reports of shots fired and a woman aiming a gun at passing motorists, the sheriff’s office report said.
Deputies responded around 2:20 p.m. to the area of 79th Street in Fellsmere after dispatchers received calls about the incident. Upon arrival, they spoke with Ajmo inside her residence, where she told investigators she had been outside earlier that morning, drinking alcohol with her father and firing a Daisy Red Ryder pellet gun at a box in the driveway.
Ajmo said she carried the pellet gun to the mailbox because she feared snakes, the report stated. While there, she got into a verbal altercation with a man on a dirt bike who was riding up and down the road, yelling at him to slow down. She denied raising the gun at him, insisting she set it down during the confrontation.
But the dirt bike rider provided a different account in a sworn affidavit. He noticed the woman taking his picture as he rode by, ignored her, and kept going. On his next pass, he saw her rack a bullet into what looked like a rifle and aim it toward him, putting him in fear for his life, the report said. The bike rider handed over video footage showing Ajmo walking to the road with a gun in hand, later identified as the pellet rifle.
A neighbor corroborated the account, watching from his fence as Ajmo took a shooting stance in her yard and aimed the rifle at the bike rider as he drove by. The neighbor recorded the scene on video and gave it to investigators. In the footage, deputies noted Ajmo in a shooting position, with the neighbor saying she had a “real gun.”
Investigators determined Ajmo’s actions created a well-founded fear in the biker that he was about to be shot, and that she had the ability to carry out the threat. After being read her Miranda rights, Ajmo said she did not recall the incident, the report added.
She was booked into the Indian River County Jail on the felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. The charge is classified as a third-degree felony in Florida. The standard penalties include a maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of $5,000.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
