Bodybuilding Couple Accused Of Brandishing Rifles Near Miami Day Care

A couple in Miami are facing criminal charges after allegedly brandishing rifles outside of an area day care center.

Miguel Ruiz, 57, and Estrella Pereira, 50, were arrested Monday afternoon after they took two rifles from the trunk of a Corvette in the center’s parking lot, according to Miami Fox affiliate WSVN, citing police.

They are facing charges of charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and exhibiting a firearm near school property.

The situation came to light after a mother coming to pick up her child saw the couple staging a photo shoot with a loaded gun.

The woman called police after she reportedly saw Ruiz aim one of the rifles toward the day care.

A responding officer immediately ordered Ruiz and Pereira to the ground and the day care immediately went into lockdown.

“Once we found out what was going on, we went into our mandatory procedure. We did our emergency procedure where we did a lockdown with all of our children,” a day care worker told the station.

Ruiz and Pereira were taken into custody and given $10,000 bonds. Pereira was released Wednesday night, according to NBC Miami.

Pereira later told NBC affiliate WESH 2 the whole incident was a misunderstanding. She said she and Ruiz just wanted to take some good social media photos and had no idea they were pointing guns at a day care center.

“Really, we’re not bad people, we will never harm anyone or anything,” she said. “We’re bodybuilders and we’re into the social media thing, YouTube channel, you know, Instagram so forth and he thought it would be cool to take a picture with a gun, because with muscles and guns and it sounds really cool like if you look at a photograph like that,” she said.

Ruiz told ABC Miami affiliate WPLG TV he regrets the way things went down.

“It was a huge mistake,” he told Local 10’s Christian De La Rosa outside the jail. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was a day care right there.”