A woman was jailed after allegedly firing a gun within 1,000 feet of a library in The Villages.
Valerie Ann Cole, 54, who has been staying with an older woman at Continental Country Club in Wildwood, was arrested at about 11 a.m. Monday by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies.
Cole, who is said to be going through a divorce, had been with the older woman at about 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Pinellas Public Library on Powell Road looking for the nearby Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Building. Cole is a suspect in a drunk driving accident that occurred last week and was looking to retrieve her car, which had been impounded, as well as medication which had been seized.
Cole had been off her medication for several days, an arrest report indicated.
Cole, who was seated in the passenger seat of the vehicle, began arguing with the older woman, who was in the driver’s seat.
Cole pulled out her pink camouflage 9mm Glock semi-automatic handgun and fired a round out the open window into the air. The older woman convinced Cole to put away the gun and they drove back to their home on Big Oak Lane.
Back at the house and while standing in the driveway, Cole got her gun out again and fired a round into the air. They went inside and Cole fired another round into the ceiling. The older woman took the gun, but Cole began knocking the woman’s arms against a door jam in an attempt to get it back. The older woman was able to able to hold onto the gun and call 911, while Cole attempted to break the cordless phone the woman was using.
Deputies arrived on the scene and a crime technician was able to recover shell casings and a live 9mm round on the driveway.
Cole, who appeared to be intoxicated, was arrested on charges of assault, battery on a person over the age of 65, firing a weapon from a vehicle and firing a weapon inside a dwelling.
She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center where she was being held without bond.
