Florida woman holds 2 boys at gunpoint for fishing near her backyard: deputies
Woman confronts boys fishing, points long gun at them
Two boys fishing near a pond had a major scare recently. A woman armed with a long gun allegedly came up to them, pointed the gun at them, and ordered them onto the ground, the boy told FOX 35. The woman claimed they were trespassing. Records show the boys were 30 feet from her property. The boy told FOX 35 that the woman threatened to blow their heads off multiple times. That woman was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment. She has since bonded out of jail, records show.
MELBOURNE, Fla. - A Florida woman is facing charges after allegedly pointing a gun at two boys who were fishing in a pond near her backyard.
She forced them to the ground, where they remained for about five minutes until her husband exited the residence and disarmed her, according to an arrest affidavit.
What happened?
What we know:
On Friday, March 28, deputies responded to a home on Royston Drive in Melbourne after Donna Elkins, 59, called 911 to report two boys allegedly fishing in her backyard, authorities said.
Elkins told the 911 dispatcher that she had "petrified them" and that she "stopped them and they were laying on the ground," according to the report.
According to deputies, the boys stated they were fishing in the pond behind Elkins' home when she pointed a weapon at them, which was later identified as a long black pellet gun.
She then ordered them to the ground and told them they could not leave, and threatened to "blow their heads off," investigators said.
The boys remained on the ground in fear for their lives, due to the presence of the gun, for about five minutes, until Elkins' husband exited the house and disarmed her, according to the report.
Two other children who witnessed the incident provided deputies with similar accounts of what happened.
Booking photo of Donna Elkins (Credit: Volusia County jail)
The report states that Elkins did not physically harm the boys during the encounter, and they were not injured.
Elkins was arrested and booked into the Brevard County jail on two charges of aggravated assault and two charges of false imprisonment.
Were the boys fishing on her property?
Authorities said the boys were fishing on a peninsula located near the pond, approximately 30 feet from Elkins' property line.
The peninsula is owned by a community development district.
‘In my head, it was a real gun’
What they're saying:
This incident was frightening for the eighth graders, who said they were scared for their lives.
One of the boys, 15-year-old Brayden, said Elkins told them multiple times that she was going to blow their heads off.
"She said she was going to blow our brains out and that if we didn’t listen to her, she would shoot — that she was going to blow our heads off," Brayden said.
The eighth graders said they didn’t know it was a pellet gun at the time.
"In my head, it was a real gun," Brayden said. "That she was going to shoot us and kill us and the fact that she was saying she was going to blow our heads off, you can’t do that with a pellet gun. I really thought it was real."
The teenager is hoping sharing his story will stop it from happening again.
"What she did was wrong," he said.
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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office on March 31, 2025. FOX 35's Stephanie Buffamonte also spoke with one of the victims.