DUNEDIN, Fla. — Sheriff Bob Gualtieri called the shooting on the night of June 15 at a home in Dunedin Cove a "lawful but awful" misunderstanding — a "clear example" of Florida's "stand your ground" law.
Gualtieri said the shooting happened just after 9 p.m. at the home on Concord Drive. Bradley Hocevar, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and his wife, Jana, were watching a movie. His wife went out to the kitchen and heard a noise outside on the pool deck in their screened-in lanai.
Jana Hocevar reportedly peeked out the sliding doors behind the closed blinds and saw a man she didn't recognize. She told her husband and then called 911.
Bradley Hocevar reportedly shouted from inside repeatedly for the person to leave. But Jana Hocevar kept hearing a noise outside. Eventually, her husband grabbed an assault rifle and hid behind his couch and waited.
What the Hocevars didn't know was the man outside was Karl Polek, a pool cleaner with Bay Area Pool Techs, a local pool company, Gualtieri said. He had been cleaning the Hocevars' pool for more than six months. He would later tell deputies he had been in the neighborhood cleaning pools but was running behind.
Polek admitted he probably should have let the family know he was there since the pool company usually would clean in the afternoon and never after dark, the sheriff's office said.
After continuing to hear noises outside and seeing a flashlight move toward the door, Bradley Hocevar racked his rifle, aimed and fired two shots at the sliding doors that were still obscured by the closed blinds.
Security camera footage in the lanai shows Polek startled by the shots and then running away. Gualtieri said he wasn't shot but was instead hit by shrapnel from the broken glass doors.
Less than a minute later, Bradley Hocevar would fire again, unleashing 28 more rounds.
Gualtieri said this shooting was a "clear" example of Florida's "castle doctrine," also known as the "stand your ground" law. The state expanded upon the "castle doctrine" premise in 2005: Florida's "stand your ground" law extends a person's "castle" with no duty to retreat to anywhere you're legally allowed to be.
It comes with the presumption you had a reasonable fear to use deadly force.
After the shooting, deputies arrived. It was then they saw the pool tech's van outside the Hocevars' home
Polek reportedly told deputies he had arrived at the home via the screened-in lanai with his equipment but couldn't find the lights. He did not knock on the home's door or call them to let the Hocevars he was there, the sheriff's office said.
Gualtieri said that Polek likely didn't hear Bradley Hocevar shouting from the home to go away because he was searching for the pool deck lights at the time.
A few minutes after he arrived, Polek left the pool deck to grab a flashlight from his truck, the sheriff said. It was that flashlight Bradley Hocevar saw, leading him to shoot.
"The only thing that lined up right here is that Polek didn't get shot," Gualtieri said.
The sheriff said while Polek was hurt by shrapnel, he was treated at the hospital and released the same night. No charges will be filed.