A West Boca man who pulled a Glock 43X on a 14-year-old boy during a ding-dong-ditch prank gone sideways is now suing the sheriff's office that arrested him, claiming deputies built their case on a misleading account of what actually happened. Santiago Cairo, 41, was never charged after prosecutors reviewed the case, but he says the damage from his arrest was already done.
The confrontation unfolded on October 16, 2025, outside Cairo's home in the 6300 block of Boca Circle, according to CBS12. Home surveillance cameras recorded two teenage boys banging on Cairo's front door while a third stood nearby in the dark front yard, and they ran off afterward. One of them later circled back from the backyard to the front door wearing dark clothes and a hoodie, carrying what appeared to be a flashlight, per the outlet's review of the footage, which Cairo has posted publicly on YouTube.
Cairo Says He Feared a Break-In, Not a Prank
Cairo told a detective he believed someone was trying to break into and rob his house rather than play a prank, and he called 911 to report suspected attempted burglaries in the neighborhood, CBS12 reports. He had left his home to walk his two dogs, and he retrieved his Glock 43X from inside before detaining the 14-year-old near his backyard. For about five minutes, Cairo repeatedly ordered the teen to get on his knees and stay on the ground while on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, according to the station's account.
It's here that the two sides of the story diverge sharply. The boy told a deputy that Cairo held the gun pointed to the ground or a little bit toward his feet for most of the encounter, as reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, which did not identify him because he is a minor. The teen said that at one point Cairo warned him, “Don't make me get aggressive with you,” and then pointed the gun directly at him — and the boy said he believed the weapon was a BB gun or airsoft gun rather than a real firearm. Cairo has maintained he never aimed the gun at the boy, telling the 911 dispatcher who asked whether he was still pointing it that he was keeping it pointed at the ground. Arrest records cited by WPTV likewise describe Cairo saying he kept the gun in a low-ready position throughout the detention.
Witnesses Offered Mixed Accounts
Deputies who arrived at the scene gathered conflicting statements from those nearby. A neighbor told deputies he could not say whether Cairo pointed the gun at the boy, while the boy's mother told deputies the incident was her son's fault, per the same CBS12 account. Deputies arrested Cairo on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm and took him away in handcuffs.
About a month later, prosecutors declined to file that charge. The Sun Sentinel reports prosecutors found that probable cause existed to make the arrest but concluded the evidence could not prove all legally required elements of the crime alleged. Under Florida law, aggravated assault requires an assault committed with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, or with intent to commit a felony, according to the Florida Legislature.
Federal Lawsuit Targets Sheriff's Office and Five Deputies
Cairo filed a federal lawsuit in August, representing himself without an attorney. The suit names the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and five of the deputies who responded to the call as individual defendants, the Sun Sentinel reports. Cairo alleges the probable-cause affidavit used to arrest him omitted and misrepresented material exculpatory facts that deputies knew at the time.
Neither the sheriff's office nor the five deputies had filed responses to the allegations as of publication. Agency spokesperson Teri Barbera said the office does not comment on pending litigation, per the same report.
The case lands amid heightened national anxiety over doorbell pranks involving armed homeowners. Separately, police in Houston said an 11-year-old boy died in August 2025 after being shot while playing a ding-dong-ditch prank, and a Harris County grand jury indicted a man on a capital-murder charge in that case in April, according to ABC13. That case involves no known connection to the Boca Circle incident, but it underscores how quickly a teenage prank can escalate into a life-altering confrontation.
