A Florida father took matters into his own hands when a man renting a room in his home got into bed with his teenage daughter. Dayne Victor Miller's daughter alerted her father that a male roommate reportedly wandered into her room in the middle of the night on March 8 and was allegedly lying naked beside her. Miller became enraged and reportedly went after the man.
The man's spouse apparently shouted to the victim that he was in the wrong room, according to police. When the man returned to his rented room, Miller allegedly began to shoot. Miller fired multiple shots through the bedroom's closed door, according to a news release from the police department.
Excessive drinking may have been the root of the problem.
According to police, Miller and the victim admitted to drinking heavily before the incident. Presumably, the alcohol caused the victim to confuse his bedroom door with the teenager's, and he got into the wrong bed. When the teen realized the man was in her bed sleeping, she went to get Miller. Police said she did not allege a crime.
The victim's spouse got him back into the correct room.
Once she realized her husband wasn't in bed, the victim's spouse started to yell for him, according to police.
"Once they returned to their room, Mr. Miller approached their bedroom and began pounding on the door shouting, 'I'll kill you,' after the door was shut and locked on him," the news release noted. "That is when Mr. Miller shot his handgun 3-4 times into the floor outside the bedroom door in a rage," the news release stated.
Police reported that Miller cooperated with officers and left the house peacefully. He was detained and taken to Lee County Jail.
Was Miller in the wrong?
Many are lauding Miller online for protecting his daughter.
"Wonder why the 'victim' was not charged with exposing himself to a minor? That is the true victim here. What a shame," someone wrote on the Cape Coral police Facebook page.
"Wait so the guy who was going to the bathroom and went in the wrong room but somehow became naked and laid down in bed with a sleeping minor child? This means he knew he wasn't in the bathroom. And he wasn't arrested as well? Smdh," another person agreed.
"Cape Coral police department arrested the wrong man. I am actually pretty disgusted right now reading this," another person wrote. "Nobody 'accidentally' gets in bed naked with a teenager. Charges against dad need to be dropped and the pedophile needs to be charged."
Others say that Miller should not have shot at the man.
There is a camp that believes it was a drunken mistake and that Miller's reaction was excessive.
"That's pathetic. Get sloppy drunk with someone and they make a mistake and deserve to die?" one commenter asked.
"I don't think so. The drunken idiot father did not listen to his teenage daughter when she said nothing happened," someone else wrote. "Worst thing she saw a naked man just watch any movie on cable and you can see that. I hope they throw the book at him."
Miller is being held in Lee County Jail.
Authorities charged Miller with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling, according to the police department news release. His bond was set at $20,000, according to jail records, and he has a court appearance scheduled for April 10.
