MARATHON, Florida. Pirates were once common in the Florida Keys. On Monday night, a man dressed as a burglar from the past caused quite a stir.
The MPs reacted to the “shots” on the old Seven-Mile Bridge and arrested a man in “a full pirate costume, complete with active pistols with black powder holstered on each hip, with a sword and two knives.”
At 20:20 the dispatcher was called and informed that the pirate was firing a pistol on the bridge.
When Monroe County’s deputy sheriff arrived, he found Jamie Don Spering, 58, who said he was an entertainer.
Spering told the MP that he was on the bridge with friends at sunset and admitted to firing both of his black powder pistols.
He said there was no projectile in the pistols, only gunpowder, and he safely fired his rifle towards the water.
However, eyewitnesses stated that Spering fired one shot in the direction of the water, and another – at the cars that passed over the bridge