A little after 10 p.m. on a recent October night, a group of kids ran up to the doorbell of a West Boca Raton home and made to flee, one of a series of “ding-dong ditch” pranks they said they were committing in the neighborhood, according to a probable cause affidavit.

But instead of escaping, one of the pranksters — a 14-year-old boy — ended up on his knees on the ground outside, thinking he was about to be shot as the home’s resident aimed a gun with a flashlight at him and told him “you messed with the wrong guy,” the teen told police.

The resident, Santiago Cairo, 40, was arrested Oct. 16 on an aggravated assault charge after admitting to police he “went too far,” though he said he never pointed the gun at the boy and believed the group was trying to break into his house. The Palm Be

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