Group Home Children Charged with Attempted First-Degree Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer and more

“The 14-year-old girl who video shows engaged Volusia County sheriff’s deputies in a shootout in early June will be charged as an adult, State Attorney R.J. Larizza said Thursday.

But the 12-year-old boy who also shot at deputies will be tried as a juvenile.

Both children walked away from a group home in Enterprise on June 1 and broke into a nearby home that had weapons. When deputies arrived at the home, they said the two opened fire on them.

The pair are both charged with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, armed burglary of a dwelling and felony criminal mischief “because of the damage done to the home,” Larizza said.

Deputies shot the girl, Nicole Jackson, after she fired at them and pointed a shotgun at them. Although hit multiple times, Jackson survived. The News-Journal is naming her because she has been charged as an adult.

After Jackson was shot, the 12-year-old boy surrendered to deputies. The News-Journal isn’t naming him because he’ll be tried as a juvenile.

No deputies were injured in the incident.

“It’s very disturbing when you’re looking at such serious charges with such young folks,” Larizza said at the press conference at the S. James Foxman Justice Center. “If they were adults they would be facing a mandatory life sentence if convicted.”

Even though Jackson is charged as an adult and will at this point be tried as an adult, Larizza said the judge presiding over her trial will have the discretion to issue juvenile sanctions against her.

He added that a grand jury would need to return an indictment in order to charge the boy as an adult.

How it transpired

The children left the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, 51 Main St., on the afternoon of June 1 and broke into a nearby home. The home’s staff, by law, cannot restrain children staying there except under exceptional circumstances, home officials have said.

Deputies were already looking for the pair as a group home staff member who reported them missing to law enforcement said the boy needed insulin every four hours because he is a severe diabetic.

A witness reported hearing glass break at a home on Enterprise Osteen Road, and deputies learned no one was supposed to be inside the house at the time.

Detectives marked bullet holes in the window of a home at 1050 Osteen Enterprise Road near Deltona where a deputy-involved shooting Tuesday night left a 14-year-old girl with multiple gunshot wounds. The girl and a 12-year-old boy ran from a nearby juvenile group home and broke into the unoccupied residence arming themselves with firearms found in the home, Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

When deputies arrived at the home, they found the children armed inside with multiple firearms — an AK-47 assault-style rifle, a pump-action shotgun and a handgun. Larizza said the deputies were fortunate to have spoken to the homeowner before arriving; he told them there were guns and more than 200 rounds of ammunition in the house.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m., the children began shooting at deputies from different places in the house, according to the sheriff’s office.

Larizza praised the deputies who responded for the efforts they made to de-escalate the situation even as they were being fired upon.

After deputies threw a cellphone into the house, Jackson, while leveling the shotgun, came out of the garage and then went back in, ignoring deputies’ requests to drop the weapon, according to Sheriff Mike Chitwood. When the girl pointed the shotgun at deputies after exiting the garage a second time, deputies opened fire.

Helicopter footage of 1050 Osteen Enterprise Road in Deltona during a deputy-involved shooting Tuesday night that left a 14-year-old girl with multiple gunshot wounds. The girl and a 12-year-old boy ran from a nearby juvenile group home and broke into the unoccupied residence arming themselves with firearms found in the home, Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

A total of 60 shots were fired by deputies, eight of whom have been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the results of an investigation. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting as it does many officer-involved shootings in the area.

In a provided statement, Chitwood said he supports the difficult decision that Larizza and his team had to make, and whatever comes next is up to a judge and jury.

“The first priority for me is that our deputies are alive,” Chitwood said. “These young defendants are alive today because of the training, compassion and incredible restraint displayed by our deputies, and I have faith that our State Attorney’s Office will make sure that their efforts were not in vain.”

Volusia sheriff’s Division Chief Brian Henderson said at the Thursday press conference that the shooting will stay with the deputies involved for the rest of their lives — and even more so because the incident involved children.

“You have deputies that are married, you have deputies that have children, some of which are the same age as these children who they encountered,” Henderson said. “No law enforcement officer wants to pull the trigger, let alone on children.”

Larizza concurred.

“This is a horrible, disturbing event that makes you scratch your head and wonder why it happened,” Larizza said.”

State attorney: 14-year-old girl will be tried as adult for shootout with Volusia deputies
[The Dayton Beach News-Journal 6/17/21 by Katie Kustura]

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