An 11-year-old boy was accused of shooting two 13-year-old teammates during a Pop Warner football practice in Florida on Monday night following an altercation, police said.
The incident occurred around 8:18 p.m. ET in Apopka. One teen was hit in the arm and the other was struck in the torso, Apopka police chief Mike McKinley said during a news conference Tuesday. He added that the two teens were in stable condition.
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McKinley said surveillance video showed both teens were running away from the boy when the shooting occurred. He added that officers arrived on the scene around 4 minutes after the shooting was reported. Officers took the gun from the 11-year-old and the boy was detained.
The juvenile was then charged with one count of attempted second-degree murder and booked into a juvenile assessment center. McKinley said the boy retrieved the gun from an unlocked box in his mother’s vehicle and the woman could face a second-degree misdemeanor charge.
"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," McKinley said, adding that any other chargers will be left up to the court system.
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"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."
McKinley didn’t say what started the shooting. An arrest report revealed the 11-year-old was in a fight with two other teens who were allegedly bullying him over a bag of chips, according to FOX 13.
No one else was injured and an investigation was underway.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
