Sarasota Police Department advised of ‘male subject having psychological episode’
A 31-year-old Sarasota man has been charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon without Intent to Kill and Possession of a Short-Barreled Shotgun in the wake of an early morning incident on July 21, the Sarasota Police Department has reported.
Andrew Hendricks, of 367 S. Shore Drive in Sarasota, was confined to the Sarasota County Jail under a total bond of $150,000 bond, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division notes. His arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 2, those records show.
Hendricks was listed as unemployed.
No one was injured during the incident, a Police Department news release said. The victim was not identified in the Probable Cause Affidavit, which indicated that the victim had opted for such protection under the provisions of the state’s Marsy’s Law.
The unidentified person at whom Hendricks allegedly pointed the shotgun that morning told the officers that Hendricks “stated to her several hours later that he should have left a ‘mess’ for law enforcement to clean up, alluding to shooting her,” the affidavit pointed out.
The alleged crimes occurred at a residence whose location was redacted in the affidavit.
While officers were present at the home, following Hendricks’ arrest, the news release added, concern arose that his room might contain a “booby trap” and explosive devices, “so a search warrant and risk protection order were executed with the assistance of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.”
The Probable Cause Affidavit said that Hendricks’ mother told the responding Police Department officers she believed that Hendricks had been making shotgun shells into small explosives. “She said she believes you can detonate them with your feet,” the affidavit added.
During the resulting search, the news release said, two firearms, a battle ax, “and multiple rounds of ammunition were collected.”
The house had been evacuated earlier, the affidavit pointed out.
Just before 8 a.m. on July 21, the affidavit explained, Sarasota Police Department officers responded to the home to investigate a report of “a male subject having a psychological episode.”
The officer who wrote the narrative in the affidvait noted that Hendricks “did not provide me with any statements of substance. “
The officer also had spoken with Hendricks’ mother, Moira Hendricks, who explained that “her son is on a small dosage of citalopram,” the affidavit continued. That medication is used to treat depression, The Sarasota News Leader found during an online search of medical websites.
Moira Hendricks informed the officers that she is a psychologist. She added that her son “suffers from anxiety, and he was supposed to leave for Taiwan [the following day] to teach English to Taiwanese children. She said he can speak Cantonese and Mandarin,” the affidavit noted.
Further, the mother told the officers that Hendricks is a sophomore at a community college that she did not identify. “She stated that he had a similar mental breakdown a year ago when he was in Europe,” the affidavit said.
The mother also told the officers that “Andrew and his father, John, used to go to the [firing] range frequently to shoot,” the affidavit added.
Details of the July 21 incident
When the officer who wrote the narrative asked the mother whether firearms were kept in the home, she responded affirmatively, the affidavit added. “It should be noted that she was somewhat reluctant to disclose this information,” the officer pointed out in the affidavit.
Then the mother informed the officers that she received a call from the Tampa Police Department the previous day, July 20, in which she learned that her son had called that agency “multiple times regarding [persons] being ‘after him,’” the affidavit continued.
The mother and another person, whose name was redacted from the report, traveled to Tampa to pick up Hendricks; they brought him to the residence where they live, the affidavit indicated.
“She became very frustrated with law enforcement when she was informed that her son was being arrested for aggravated domestic assault and a firearms charge,” the affidavit pointed out.
However, the affidavit continued, the mother informed the officer that her son “has pointed firearms at her on multiple occasions.” The most recent one, the affidavit noted, was about 2 a.m. on July 21. “She said the house was dark inside, and she went into the main part of the house which connects to a living room with a picture window,” the affidavit added. “She said that she saw Andrew pointing a shotgun out the front window, so she turned on the lights in the room. She stated that Andrew pointed the shotgun at her,” the affidavit continued, “and he placed his finger on the trigger. He then shut the lights back off, and he did nt make any explicit statements. She said the shotgun was ponited at her chest,” the affidavit noted.
The mother added that Hendricks “was acting in a paranoid state” until the officers arrived about 7:37 a.m. that day, the affidavit continued. “She said she barricaded herself in her room by placing pillows in front of her. She believed this might shield her form a potential shotgun blast. She stated that she eventually snuck into his room when he was gone, and she secured the shotgun.”
She showed the officer who wrote the report where she had left the shotgun on a counch in the living room, the affidavit said. The officer noted that the weapon was a Remington model 1100 12-gauge model, and it was loaded with five shells. It had one round in the chamber and four rounds in the magazine tube, the affidavit explained. The safety was off, the affidavit noted, which meant the shotgun was ready to fire.
The officer unloaded the shotgun, the affidavit noted, and then the officer secured it and the battle ax in his vehicle.
Additionally, the affidavit explained that the shotgun “had a noticeably short barrel, and it was evident that the barrel had been hastily cut off.” That work did not appear to have been undertaken by a professional gunsmith, the affidavit continued. The shotgun, the affidavit said, “is noticeably shorter than the 18-inch length” required by the National Firearms Act.
When officers checked law enforcement records for past incidents involving Hendricks, the affidavit added, they found no results for firearm-related charges.
A News Leader search of the records of the Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller found four other charges against Hendricks, dating to November 2006. They involved a first offense of Possession of Tobacco by a Minor; Unlawful Speed; possession of not more than 20 grams of marijuana; and careless driving. The last charge came in June 2020.