An elderly Florida man was charged with first-degree murder after shooting a man and beating him with a golf club after chiding him for walking his dog on a golf course.
According to a report from WPBF News in West Palm Beach, 64-year-old Herbert Merritt was walking his dog along the 15th hole at Kings Point Golf Club around 7 p.m. Sunday when Robert Levine, 74, rode up in a golf cart to confront him.
It wasn’t long before Merritt was running for cover as Levine fired a semi-automatic handgun in his direction, per eyewitness accounts. One bullet struck Merritt in the ankle, at which point Levine kicked him in the head as he lay prone before retrieving a club from his cart and proceeded to strike him with it.
Police officers at the scene seized as evidence two clubs spattered with blood as well as a number of shell casings. Thankfully, there were enough horrified onlookers who called the authorities before Levine could inflict more damage.
As “Florida man” stories go, this one might be the new leader in the clubhouse as it pertains to golf-related crimes. Another resident of the Sunshine State was recently sentenced to two years in prison for stealing and selling golf carts on Craigslist, but his crimes seem extraordinarily tame by comparison.
