Florida woman waves around loaded gun, accuses stranger her phone was stolen while it was hiding in plain sight

Police arrested a 57-year-old Key West woman, Gail Stephenson, on Friday, September 19, 2025, after a tense encounter in which she brandished a firearm over what she claimed was a stolen phone, only for officers to find the device inside her own vehicle the whole time.

According to local news reports, at about 10:10 p.m., the Key West Police Department dispatched officers to the 1300 block of Ashby Street in response to calls that a woman in a white Ford Explorer had pulled up to a man, waving a revolver, and insisting someone had stolen her phone.

What happened to Gail Stephenson?

Amid the disturbance, a man came out of his home with a flashlight, and Stephenson allegedly pointed the gun at his chest. She later set it down and repeated her claim that someone had robbed her. Officers who arrived noted Stephenson “smelled strongly” of alcohol, and reports say she admitted to having had “several drinks” that night. Furthermore, officers located the supposedly stolen phone on the driver’s side floorboard of her SUV.

And finally, although she claimed her husband must have the gun with him in Georgia and insisted she wasn’t armed, police found a loaded revolver in a case inside the vehicle. They also found a gun bag (a purple Crown Royal bag) behind a trash can on the ramshackle property where the incident occurred.

Authorities took Stephenson into custody on three felony counts: aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed trespassing, and evidence tampering. Officers booked her into the Monroe County Jail. Stephenson is not currently listed in Monroe County jail records, suggesting she was released after her initial booking. The court scheduled her arraignment on October 10, 2025.