An 18-year-old Homestead man was arrested Thursday afternoon in Marathon after hitting another man in the head with the buttstock of a pellet gun.
Rafael Zavala was charged with aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability.
Multiple deputies were called to the 6400 block of the Overseas Highway regarding a fight. They arrived to find a man had been hit in the forehead with the wooden buttstock of a pellet gun. The injury required stitches.
The victim said he is the foreman for a roofing company that was doing work on 63rd Street. He stated that several storage units there had been burglarized recently. On Thursday, he saw workers from a different roofing company put what appeared to be a fishing rod in the back of a car. The victim began taking pictures with his cell phone given the recent burglaries. Several men from the other roofing company took offense to the picture-taking. Words were exchanged. Soon thereafter, the victim was hit with the pellet gun.
A witness identified Zavala as the man with the pellet gun. Deputy Matthew Cory found and detained Zavala on 68th Street.
Zavala was taken to jail.