MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Police responded to a southwest Miami-Dade daycare Monday afternoon after receiving a call that there was a man wielding a rifle outside of the business.
According to an arrest report, officers pulled up just before 4 p.m. to see a man holding the loaded rifle while kneeling in a “firing position” and taking aim towards the daycare’s door — with a woman snapping photos of him.
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The pair — Miguel Ruiz, 57, and Estrella Maria Pereira, 50 — are now facing felony charges.
According to Miami-Dade police, the incident happened outside of Devon Aire Kiddy College, located in a strip mall at 12289 SW 112th St. in the West Kendall area.
A woman whose child attends the school said she saw the pair as she was entering the parking lot, police said.
The arrest report states that she saw Ruiz and Pereira removing two rifles from the trunk of a Chevrolet Corvette and then aiming them up “in a shooting position.”
The woman said “she was in fear for her life and was concerned for her safety along with the safety of her child,” police wrote.
She said she continued to observe as the duo “returned to their vehicle and began (circling) the parking lot,” then picked up her child.
“As she was returning to her vehicle with the child, she observed (Ruiz) holding a rifle and pointing it in all directions, including towards the daycare/school and in her direction,” police wrote. “She then left the parking lot quickly.”
Surveillance video, police said, corroborated the woman’s account.
Ruiz and Pereira were arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and exhibiting a firearm on school property.
An alleged confession was redacted from the arrest report.
Both were being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $10,000 bonds, as of Tuesday.