JUPITER, Fla. -- A Jupiter man is facing drug and assault charges after police say he threatened someone with a gun.
On Monday, November 6, 2017, a Jupiter police officer was on routine patrol on South A1A just before 4 p.m.
The officer observed a large group of people standing in the roadway yelling at each other.
One of the people waved his arms at the officer to get him to stop. While the officer stood on the driver's side of his patrol car, he heard one of the people say "He's got a gun". At the same time, the officer observed several people running into the bushes.
One of the men, identified as Jose Vazquez, stated he was at the beach with several friends when a man, later identified as Devardo Cooper, drove by them in a black Impala while they were on the sidewalk. Vazquez said he and Cooper got into a verbal argument over his cousin's ex-girlfriend.
According to Vazquez, Cooper pulled out a black handgun from a backpack he was carrying. Vazquez said as soon as Cooper pulled out the gun, Cooper saw the police patrol car driving by. Vazquez says Cooper gave the backpack to one of his friends and told him to run with it.
A man identified as Carlos Franco was found walking on A1A who matched the description of the person running into the bushes with the backpack.
Both Franco and Cooper were placed under arrest and transported to the Jupiter police department.
Devardo Canute Cooper is charged with Aggravated Assault with a deadly weapon without the intent to kill and multiple drug possession charges.
