Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood at a press conference Tuesday night.Photo: Volusia Sheriff’s Office
A 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl allegedly opened fire on deputies in Florida Tuesday night after they allegedly broke into a home and found the homeowner’s shotgun and AK-47.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said the children, who ran away from the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home just hours earlier, fired multiple rounds at the deputies who had surrounded the home.
“Eventually, after all this goes on and we try to de-escalate — we throw a cellphone into the house, try to talk to them — the 14-year-old comes out of the garage with a pump shotgun, levels it at deputies and, despite warnings to drop it, she walks back into the garage, she comes back a second time and that’s when deputies open fire after taking multiple rounds,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said at a press conference Tuesday night.
The girl was transported to Central Florida Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries. She is in stable condition, according toWESH 2 News.
The boy, who was allegedly armed with the AK-47, dropped the weapon after the girl was shot and was taken to the hospital because of a diabetic condition. He was uninjured in the incident.
No deputies were injured.
“Deputies did everything they could tonight to de-escalate, and they almost lost their lives to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old,” Chitwood said. “If it wasn’t for their training and their supervision … somebody would have ended up dead.”
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The sheriff’s department said the children had run away from the children’s group home and were reported missing at about 5 p.m. that day — about two-and-a-half hours before the break-in.
Officers contacted the homeowner, who told them there were weapons and 200 rounds of ammunition inside.
Charges against the two children are pending, authorities said.
source: people.com
