Shocking surveillance footage captured the moment an 11-year-old grabbed a gun from his mother’s vehicle and opened fire on his teammates after they reportedly took his bag of chips.
The video, released by police Tuesday night, appears to show the shooter allegedly being chased by one of his teammates after youth soccer practice at a park in Apopka, Florida Monday night.
The young man then raced to a vehicle in the parking lot and grabbed a gun from the passenger side seat.
Apopka Police Chief Mike McKinley said the firearm was not secured in the vehicle.
A screenshot from the video shows the scene of the shooting.Apopka Police
He then walked onto the sidewalk and fired a shot at the other boy, who walked away with his back to him.
Moments later, a woman – believed to be his mother – can be seen grabbing the gun from the child’s grasp before holding his hand behind his back and apparently reprimanding him in front of their vehicle as others try to flee the scene.
A single shot hit a 13-year-old teenager, while another was hit in the arm.
Surveillance video at an Apopka, Florida park captured the moment an 11-year-old opened fire on one of his teammates. Apopka Police
“My son got shot — it hit him in the back,” a panicked woman told dispatchers in a 911 call released by Apopka police Tuesday night, noting the shooting happened just five to 10 minutes earlier.
One of the victims was released from a local hospital Monday night, while the other was listed in stable condition.
They are both expected to survive their injuries, police said.
Police said the argument started when the two victims slapped the bag of chips from the young boy’s hand, WESH reported.
The 11-year-old was arrested and charged with one count of attempted second-degree murder.
The youngster grabbed a gun from the passenger side of his parents’ vehicle, police said, and was later seen being reprimanded by a woman believed to be his mother. Apopka Police
“As a society, we need to reflect on this matter; we see this all the time now,” McKinley said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“It’s a shame. No one wants to arrest an 11-year-old by any means, but based on our investigation, we feel the charges are warranted.”
But, he said, police only sought one charge of attempted murder against the pre-teen because he didn’t feel it was necessary to “accumulate an 11-year-old with no criminal history.”
The mother could also face charges for leaving the gun unsecured, the police chief said.
McKinley described the boy as “very quiet and shy” and “looking very sad” after the shooting.
Residents say Monday night’s shooting points to a larger issue in the community of Apopka — located about 20 miles from Orlando.
“Over the past month, all the violence that’s happened in our area has been with teenagers,” Bishop Kelvin Cobaris, who served with Apopka Pop Warner as the group’s chaplain, told WESH.
“These are young people who are involved in violence, and [think] that the way to deal with conflict is to hurt someone with a gun.”
Residents say Monday night’s shooting points to a larger issue in the community of Apopka — located about 20 miles from Orlando.AP
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Pop Warner – a non-profit organization that provides youth sports across the country, said it was “saddened by the terrifying incident.”
“The scourge of gun violence is even more alarming when young children are involved,” the organization said.
“While law enforcement conducts its investigation, we are working diligently with the Apopka Blue Darter Association and Pop Warner’s national office to better understand the circumstances surrounding the shooting and work to ensure appropriate measures are in place to support the program and its members,” it continued.
“Our first priority is to make sure the boys and girls on all our teams are protected and feel safe participating in the sport they love.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
