Ron Kroll said he is seeing "The murderer of Craigslist" movie, but I never thought something like this could happen to him.
This week we almost did.
The 37-year-old New Smyrna Beach man said he found himself fighting for survival time after meeting a man who claimed an interest in buying a boat ads Kroll had on Craigslist, a popular classifieds website.
Kroll believes that the man had other intentions in mind.
"I think it would have killed me if I had the opportunity," Kroll said by phone Thursday.
Kroll met the man, identified by authorities as Merritt Island resident Darin Leutbecker, about noon Wednesday near the Intracoastal Waterway in New Smyrna Beach to test a 2005 Wild Creek Classic boat. The two ventured to the south in the channel of Kroll in controls.
Minutes later, Kroll said the conference offered Leutbecker, who took the boat in shallow water. However, when they were out of sight of other boaters, Kroll, said that when he became suspicious.
"I knew something was not right," he said.
Kroll said the suspect told his back foot in front of the boat to see if I could rock. But Kroll knew and tried to take the boat back to shore.
Kroll was when he said he saw the suspect pull a gun from his backpack. The struggle continued and the two fell overboard.
"The most important thing was for me to be as far away from the gun as possible," said Kroll.
The two battled in chest deep water and in a moment of Kroll, said his hand directly over the barrel.
"That was one of the hardest things I've ever lived," said Kroll.
Seconds later, he said he thought he saw the suspect had dropped the gun and pulled a knife Kroll defense. However, the suspect pulled the water pistol and fired at Kroll and was launched to seek refuge.
Kroll swam ashore, while the suspect walked away with the ship, which was later found abandoned, the Office of the Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said.
Kroll told deputies that during the fight that he believed the suspect had cut through the neck with the knife, Haught said.
The Volusia County Sheriff's investigators then notified the Sheriff's Office Brevard County in search of someone to appear in a hospital with a description of the suspect and injury. Around 7: 30 pm on Wednesday, a sergeant in Brevard Volusia researchers reported that a man matching the description, including a neck injury, was in the Canaveral Hospital.
Leutbecker was charged with robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the use of a firearm during the commission of a felony, robbery and assault. He was taken to the Volusia County Jail and Rama was arrested Thursday on bail of $ 10,000.
Kroll, who has sold several items on Craigslist in the past, said to be more careful next time. By Thursday, he had taken his phone number from the list online.
"It left me scratching my head," he said. "You only hear about these things happening to others. You never think it will be happening to you."
The incident has been removed Kroll's love for boating.
On Thursday, he was back in a different boat with his family - in the same waters where he almost died.
"You have to back out," he said. "You can be afraid of him."