In Naples, Florida, 25-year-old Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez was charged with manslaughter after a March shooting that resulted in the death of his neighbor, Jason Sheffield.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rodriguez later told authorities that when his wife urged him to investigate sounds on their property around midnight, he believed a bear was making the noises.<\/p>\n
What happened?<\/p>\n
The confrontation began, investigators say, when Rodriguez’s wife, Katherin Hidalgo, heard something during the night and thought a wild animal could be preying on the animals in the backyard, ABC News reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bears are present across wide stretches of Florida, including where this incident occurred.<\/p>\n After stepping outside with a smaller rifle, Rodriguez came back in and said he believed the noise might have been caused by a bear, the affidavit says. Good Morning America reported<\/a> that investigators said he then took a larger rifle back outside.<\/p>\n His account to investigators was that he first discharged one round into the ground as a warning. He said he then heard the sound coming nearer and, thinking he was about to be attacked, fired another shot toward his neighbor’s property at about waist level, according<\/a> to the affidavit cited by ABC News.<\/p>\n He went back to bed after shooting his gun, and only later the next morning went back to search his property.<\/p>\n At about 8 a.m., after finding nothing on his own property, he searched his neighbor’s, where investigators said he found Sheffield face down in thick vegetation near a chicken coop. Rodriguez then called 911.<\/p>\n Investigators explained in their arrest affidavit that, “Ariel was frantic as he informed the dispatcher that he shot off a gun yesterday at a noise he believed to be a bear, but now believed he accidentally shot his neighbor,” per<\/a> Good Morning America.<\/p>\n Rodriguez was detained after deputies arrived. Last week, he was charged with manslaughter with a firearm. The case will now move through the courts.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Naples, Florida, 25-year-old Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez was charged with manslaughter after a March shooting that resulted in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[147648,28,30,29,2026,147649,5387,267],"class_list":["post-363150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-ariel-gonzalez-rodriguez","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-investigators","tag-katherin-hidalgo","tag-naples","tag-neighbor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}