MOUNT DORA, Fla.— A Winter Park man, arrested multiple times in Lake County, was shot in the leg at a Mount Dora bus stop Thursday morning and arrested, after accosting a man who first pepper-sprayed him, according to a report.
William Tyler Barrett, 29, is facing a charge of aggravated assault on a person over 65 years old and is being held on $10,000 bond. Curtis Roberson, 67, of Eustis, told Mount Dora Police Department he was leaving the parking lot of Walmart Supercenter, 17030 U.S. Highway 441, around 10 a.m. when Barrett approached him and made a comment he couldn’t make out. Roberson ignored him and kept walking to the bus stop located at U.S. Highway 441 and Spring Harbor Boulevard.
Barrett approached Roberson again at the bus stop, “behaving erratically” and accused Roberson of being at “his house,” the report states.
Barrett approached Roberson in an “aggressive manner” and Roberson emptied a canister of pepper spray and Barrett continued to approach him, now armed with a knife. Roberson told Barrett to “stop,” and “stay back,” multiple times and as Barrett advanced toward Roberson, he fired a single shot that struck Barrett in the leg, according to the report.
Barrett then left the scene and Roberson called police, along with an independent witness who saw the attack.
While officers and Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies spoke with Roberson, Barrett was located in the bushes at nearby Regions Bank. Mucus running from his nose and limping, Barrett told an MDPD officer he couldn’t see, and his eyes were hurting because he had been pepper-sprayed. The officer observed a knife and multiple bags around Barrett and once a deputy arrived, Barrett was detained, and the officer and deputy provided first aid to him, and they waited for EMS to arrive.
Barrett was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares for treatment, where he refused to cooperate with an officer at the hospital, only revealing his first name. He spoke in the third person about himself multiple times and told the officer he was preaching and repenting for his church. When asked who he was speaking to, Barrett reportedly said, the “spirit in the room.”
Later, Barrett told MDPD detectives he located Roberson and Roberson was a murderer and confronted him about why he was at his house. He said Roberson pulled out pepper spray and he pulled out a knife; and Roberson sprayed him and shot him in the leg. Barrett refused to answer any more of the detectives’ questions because he “did not like them,” according to the report. Barrett was placed under arrest and an emergency room doctor told police he would be initiating a Baker Act.
