A Florida bodybuilder has apologized for posing with a loaded rifle mere feet from a daycare, saying it was a “really dumb decision” and she wouldn’t have taken the photos if she’d known children were in the area.
Estrella Maria Pereira, 50, says she and her boyfriend, Miguel Ruiz, 57, were at the Crystal Plaza Shopping Center in Miami to take bodybuilding pictures — and did not know a daycare was located feet away in the strip mall until the police were called on them just before 4 p.m. Monday.
“We’re just in the bodybuilding world and we went to take some bodybuilding pictures, like as strong athletes,” Pereira told WPLG. “I promise, we would never do anything to harm anyone.”
The couple were arrested on felony charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and exhibiting a firearm on school property.
When officers arrived at the strip mall, they reported seeing Ruiz holding the loaded rifle while kneeling in a “firing position” and taking aim toward the daycare’s door — all while Pereira was snapping photos of him.
Pereira, who was released from jail on bond, insisted she had no idea there were children nearby when she agreed to the impromptu photoshoot.
“I don’t even live there, I live in Brickell and there’s no sign that says daycare,” she said. “I would have never, ever done anything so ridiculous as like this, had I known that there were children, or any school in the area, ever.”
Miami-Dade police said a concerned daycare parent called after noticing the couple in the parking lot when she went to pick up her child.
Surveillance footage confirmed the mother’s claims that the couple had a rifle and were pointing it in various directions, including at the daycare.
“We were literally just taking pictures,” Pereira said. “We didn’t mean to do anything wrong. We’re not bad people.”
While extremely apologetic for her “really dumb decision,” Pereira said she believes the incident was blown out of proportion.
“It was. It really was,” she said. “It’s saddening because it was just a really dumb decision.”
