He was shot in the belly at a Florida Keys home — and arrested after leaving the hospital

A family dispute in June left a Florida Keys man in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound. But the person who fired the .22-caliber handgun inside the Lower Keys home — the wounded man’s 25-year-old stepson — hasn’t been charged with a crime.

From the start, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has said it looks like self-defense.

On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office arrested 53-year-old William T. Zimmerman, the one who was shot in the abdomen.

Zimmerman was arrested after being released from the Miami-Dade hospital he was taken to by Monroe County’s Trauma Star helicopter on June 26. He now faces a misdemeanor battery charge, after deputies said he struck his wife that night at a home in the 30000 block of Coconut Highway on Big Pine Key.

“He battered his wife and threatened his stepson in the past,” said Adam Linhardt, spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Zimmerman, who is listed as disabled and living on the streets of Big Pine in his jail record, was booked into the county jail on Stock Island and given a $75,000 bond. He is due in court Aug. 4.

His records don’t show that he has found legal representation as of Wednesday.

The shooter hasn’t been identified

After the shooting, the Keys sheriff’s office declined to release any names of the people involved, citing it as a domestic violence case still under investigation. On Wednesday, they announced Zimmerman’s arrest, naming him for the first time, but still wouldn’t identify the stepson.

Emails sent Wednesday to an sheriff’s records clerk and a sheriff’s office spokesman requesting the information were not immediately returned. The incident report that FLKeysNews.com/Miami Herald asked for after the shooting hasn’t been made available.

The sheriff’s office did release a 911 call history report on June 28. According to the report, the stepson called 911 at 7:28 p.m., saying his stepfather had attacked his mother.

Dispatchers labeled the call a “domestic in progress,” and soon heard the sound of “possible shots fired,” a woman screaming and a loud banging.

“You attacked my mother, you should of just stayed away,” the caller said as his mother screamed.

The stepson started first-aid to his stepfather.

“I didn’t want this to happen,” he said, according to dispatchers.

A death threat

Both men gave different stories to deputies.

The stepson said he shot Zimmerman to defend himself and his mother. Zimmerman had often threatened to kill the mother and son, along with law enforcement, and has possessed guns, the stepson said.

Zimmerman told deputies he was shot without warning. Then, using profanity, he said he was going to kill his stepson once he left the hospital, according to Monroe sheriff’s spokesman Adam Linhardt.

The mother backed up her son’s version of events.

She also had injuries from an apparent beating, saying her husband regularly hits her and threatens to kill her and her son. She was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West for treatment the night of the shooting.