“I figured if I showed a handgun that would be enough to diffuse any situation”, one of the volunteers, 73-year-old Stan Pannaman, told the Daily News.
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A turtle rescue led to a shooting in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea on Friday night when two volunteers intent on protecting sea turtle nests were confronted by a man saying he dislikes turtles and turtle volunteers, according to one of the volunteers.
Pannaman and his friend and fellow volunteer, Doug Young, were out checking on sea turtle nests on a beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, at around 11 p.m. Friday, according to WSVN. But McAuliffe approached, Pannaman said, and began screaming as he yanked up stakes and tore down yellow tape from around a nest site.
Pannaman said he was shot in the backside, and the bullet is still lodged in his buttocks.
“It was freakish, for lack of another word”, Pannaman said Sunday from his home in Tamarac.
Pannman said he never pointed the gun at McAuliffe, but merely pulled it out so the aggressor would know he was armed. “He said, ‘I’m going to get you, you [expletive] sea turtle people, ‘ and he said, ‘I’m going to beat the [expletive] out of you, ‘” said Young. “You’re all f-ing mad”, said Pannaman.
As the two men wrestled, McAuliffe ended up holding the pistol and pointing it Pannaman, stating, “I’m going to shoot you with your flare gun”. “I said, ‘Mister, I’m armed; this is a gun”. “I looked at him and I said ‘No, I’m not all right”. “The guy freaked out when he saw the wound”, Young said, recalling McAuliffe throwing the gun into the sand. His previous felony conviction stems from pleading “no contest” past year to battery on a person older than 65.
Carrying a gun is not part of his group’s protocol, he said. He pleaded “no contest” to both of those charges, as well.
Pannaman also has a cut on his head from the alleged attack.
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“But really, monitoring sea turtle nests should not be a life-threatening experience”.
