It’s hard to be shocked by new incidents of gun violence, but a gun battle in Volusia County, Florida is especially jarring because the shooters were children. Police say they were runaways from a nearby children’s home. The Washington Post writes:
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 at sheriff’s deputies, authorities said, in a violent and drawn-out confrontation that the children’s foster home called “the result of the system failing our children.”
The boy was unharmed, but the girl was shot and is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries but is reported stable. On newly released body cam video, police are heard trying to deescalate the situation. One deputy is heard saying “Let’s not shoot these kids, man, let’s just hold off, take our time.” Another officer said, “Let’s not try to escalate this any further.”
The CBS affiliate in Orlando (watch above) writes, “Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said his deputies showed great restraint by not initially returning fire even as they were ambushed multiple times throughout the ordeal.”
Chitwood said:
“They took multiple multiple rounds… And I know for a fact one banana clip was empty from the AK-47. I know from the radio transmissions that a 12-year-old opened fire on us. I know that the 14-year-old opened fire on us with a shotgun and then walked out and threatened one of my sergeants and told him she was going to kill him. And we didn’t return fire. But after she came out of the garage, hey, there was nothing left that we could do. We had to do (what) we had to do,”
No officers were injured.
The two are expected to charged with attempted first-degree murder and armed burglary.