Man Charged After Mistaking Neighbor For Bear, Opening Fire

(Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez. Photo by ABC News)

According to an arrest document, a man was charged with manslaughter months after allegedly shooting and killing his neighbor while mistaking him for a bear.

On Tuesday, Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez, 25, was charged with the March homicide of his neighbor Jason Sheffield in Naples, Florida.

According to the affidavit, Rodriguez’s wife, Katherin Hidalgo, said detectives that she heard a disturbance around midnight and was concerned that a wild animal was harming the farm animals she had in her backyard, so she roused her husband up to investigate.

Rodriguez, who was 24 years old at the time, returned to inform his wife he thought it was a bear before retrieving a larger caliber gun, according to the affidavit.

Rodriguez informed authorities that he fired a single round from the larger gun into the ground.

According to the affidavit, Rodriguez then said that he thought the commotion was coming closer and that he was about to be attacked, so he shot a bullet in the direction of his neighbor’s property at waist level.

Hidalgo told authorities she heard at least two gunshots before her husband returned home, according to the affidavit.

Hidalgo told detectives that Rodriguez told her that whatever was causing the noise which he thought might have been a bear was approaching him, so he fired a “couple of warning shots,” according to the affidavit.

“According to Katherin, Ariel did not conduct more investigation because he was afraid he had injured the bear and did not want to risk being attacked. According to the affidavit, he told Katherin that he would go check in the morning.

Rodriguez examined his land at 8 a.m. the next day but found nothing. According to the complaint, he then entered his neighbor’s property and located him lying face down with blood on his body.

According to the complaint, Rodriguez informed his wife in the morning that he had shot someone before phoning 911.

Rodriguez called 911 and remained on the phone with the dispatchers until deputies arrived. Rodriguez was arrested for manslaughter with a handgun, according to the affidavit.

“Ariel was frantic as he informed the dispatcher that he shot off a gun yesterday at a noise he thought was a bear, but now believed he accidentally shot his neighbor,” authorities noted in an arrest document.

According to the affidavit, when officers arrived at the site, Rodriguez and his wife were handcuffed, detained, and placed in separate patrol vehicles.

Investigators discovered the neighbor dead, face down in an overgrown patch of vegetation near a chicken coop. He looked to have blood on the back of his clothing, according to the affidavit.