FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A Fort Myers mother says she is being evicted for protecting herself from a stranger who would not leave her home.
What Ophelia Wilkerson considered a good deed landed her in a lot of trouble early October, when she let a stranger, who was hanging out on the steps in front of her Horizons apartment, use her restroom.
The mother said if her children were home, she would not have allowed it.
She called management at Horizons, just off Summerlin Rd. when the stranger refused to leave. "His words to me were, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just got to use the bathroom,'" she said. "As he came out of the bathroom, he just lingered. He lingered and he was just babbling out the mouth and that spooked me."
After multiple attempts to try to get 22-year-old Tajarvis Cosby to leave, Wilkerson grabbed a BB gun she said she used as a Halloween prop a few years ago. She tells Fox 4 she put it in her pocket and shook it for Cosby to hear. Cosby then left the apartment, and police trespassed him from the property.
Now, Wilkerson and her children face eviction from the Fort Myers Housing Authority complex for having a weapon at the home. "It was never pointed, it was never shown, it [the warning] was verbal, and a noise was made to scare the man off," said Wilkerson. "What it was, is what I consider a toy. It's dysfunctional. It does not work."
The single mother appealed the eviction because she does not believe the BB gun qualified as a weapon. Her lease states she cannot possess, display, or use a weapon such as a knife, gun, club, slingshot or explosive. In fact, the lease also states she cannot use otherwise harmless items, like a stick, rock, or glass, in a way to resemble a weapon. This left Wilkerson feeling defenseless. "Whether I let someone use the restroom or someone just barged into my apartment, I can use nothing. I can use absolutely nothing to protect me or my children."
4 In Your Corner attempted to speak to management at the complex, but their office was closed. When we called, management referred us to the Fort Myers Housing Authority, which said they will look into the issue. Wilkerson has 48 before she must vacate the property. "I don't make trouble. I do what I got to do for my children, and in 48 hours, I will be homeless," said Wilkerson.
