Florida Runaway Teens in Gun Battle with Cops
Two runaway children opened fired on police officers and reignited the debate over Florida’s resource-starved juvenile justice system.
Landwebs
A 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy in Florida face attempted murder charges after breaking into a home Tuesday and using the guns inside to fire on sheriff’s deputies, reports the Washington Post. Deputies and the boy were not shot while the girl was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and is now stable. The children shot repeatedly toward deputies on four occasions over 35 minutes before the girl finally emerged from the garage and pointed a shotgun at deputies, leading them to return fire. The boy, armed with an AK-47, then surrendered. Both children were runaways from Florida United Methodist Children’s Home in Enterprise, Florida. Authorities said they tried their best to de-escalate a situation that could have turned deadly while the children’s foster home called the incident “the result of the system failing our children.”
In Florida, lawmakers have slashed the budget for child welfare, while reports raise concerns about overcrowded state-funded homes and overburdened caseworkers. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood criticized current approaches and “restorative justice” programs as soft on crime and focused in large part on the children themselves, declaring at one point that he had “no sympathy, none.” The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, singled out for much of the criticism, said in a statement that the incident was “tragic” and noted that it does not oversee the children’s home. The boy and girl both face charges of armed burglary and attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer. The sheriff’s office said it responded to nearly 300 calls from Florida United Methodist Children’s Home last year.
