Man Fired Gun at Wife in Gulf Harbors Home, Missed

Early on Friday in a home in Gulf Harbors, Barbara Hall heard her husband, Robert Hall, yell from another room in the house for her to call the police. It was around 1 a.m., and she went to the door of the bedroom she had heard her husband’s voice come from, she later told authorities.

The door was locked. Barbara and Robert were the only people home.

Barbara called out the first name of her husband and unlocked the door with a screwdriver.

And Robert, 72, aimed a 9 mm handgun from inside the room and shot at her several times. 

Barbara took cover. She fled. She called the police.

When a Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy arrived at 6276 Spoonbill Drive, Hall fired several more times, according to an arrest affidavit. Media releases from the at the time said he was “barricaded” at the home.

Members of the Sheriff’s Office SWAT team were dispatched. Hall was arrested without incident, according to an affidavit. He was taken into police custody just before 5:20 a.m., according to a media alert. Nobody was injured.

After his arrest, Robert told deputies that he had thought somebody was breaking into the home, locked the bedroom door and armed himself, according to an arrest report. When Barbara opened the door, he aimed “High” in an attempt to wound the person entering.

Investigation determined that one shot went into the bedroom door. One bullet went into the wall.

Robert also fired into the bathroom.

“I wanted to get someone’s attention,” he told deputies.

Three shots went into the window glass of the adjoining bathroom. Another went into the wall below.

They found two firearms around the bed and a shotgun, two assault rifles and several handguns in the bathroom. There were also rifles in a closet. Some had sights. Some had scopes. There were also marijuana plats in the closet.

Barbara told deputies that Robert collects guns and keeps them in that bedroom room.  She told deputies that Robert has never been violent toward her.

Hall was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and cultivation of marijuana. 

He was previously arrested for a separate incident on Dec. 9, 2009, for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest without violence and criminal mischief.

All three 2009 cases against Hall were closed by the court in 2010. No action was taken on the aggravated battery or criminal mischief charges. The court system withheld adjudication on the obstruction/resisting officer without violence charge.

Land O' Lakes Patch Editor Sherri Lonon contributed to this report.