Police in Florida have accused an 11-year-old boy of shooting two of his 13-year-old teammates during a Pop Warner football practice on Monday night, following a dispute.
The incident unfolded around 8:18 p.m. ET in Apopka. During a news conference on Tuesday, Apopka Police Chief Mike McKinley said one of the teenagers was struck in the arm, while the other was hit in the torso. McKinley also mentioned that both teenagers were in stable condition. Surveillance footage revealed that both teenagers were running away from the 11-year-old boy when the shooting took place. Officers arrived at the scene approximately four minutes after receiving the report of the shooting. They disarmed the 11-year-old and took him into custody.
The juvenile was subsequently charged with one count of attempted second-degree murder and was placed in a juvenile assessment center. McKinley disclosed that the boy had accessed the gun from an unlocked box in his mother’s vehicle, and the mother might face a second-degree misdemeanor charge.
However, McKinley did not provide information regarding the initial cause of the shooting. An arrest report indicated that the 11-year-old had been involved in a confrontation with two other teenagers who were allegedly bullying him over a bag of chips, as reported by FOX 13.
“As a society, we need to reflect on this. We see this all the time now. It’s a shame. No one wants to arrest an 11-year-old by any means,” said McKinley. “Our hope is that the 11-year-old gets the assistance he needs to make sure this isn’t a resolution for the rest of his life. He’s 11, he’s got a long life ahead of him. There’s no doubt that he can turn things around. Hopefully our court system, with diversion programs and counseling and other things, can help him past this and move to a point where reaching for a firearm is not his resolution for the future.”
