How many men and deer can fit in a Mini Cooper?

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A bizarre bust in east Orange County ended like the punchline to a joke: four men, four deer, one MINI Cooper.

It's the last thing you'd expect to find outside your rural home -- a bright yellow Mini Cooper, shell casings and blood on the ground.

"I heard just two loud booms," said Alicia Diggs, who heard the gunshots between 3 and 4 in the morning Jan. 21 and called 911.

When Diggs woke up, she found something even stranger. Deputies arrived and peered into the fogged up car. They found the mix of four grown men and four dead deer and the tiny car.

"That is crazy," said neighbor John Block. "My first thought was it must have been a stretch MINI Cooper because there's no way it was a MINI Cooper."

"I would have personally probably picked a truck instead of a two-door MINI Coop, with four guys in it," said Diggs, as she wondered how they all planned to get inside the car.

While neighbors struggled doing the math, something else didn't add up. The car had somehow stalled.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission report said the driver "purposely sped up and ran over" one deer and the car got "stuck on top of the buck deer and stalled."

"I think that's just overkill," laughed Block.

About the only thing that makes sense is how it all began. The men said they went to a bonfire party the night before, then went on an illegal, out-of-season 3 a.m. joy ride and deer hunt. Then, they all passed out. When they woke up deputies found pot in their car and more than one reason to send two of the men to jail.

"I guess it would have possibly made sense," said Diggs. "I personally still would have never thought my girlfriend's MINI Coop would have been the coolest thing to shoot some deer in."

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