VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Volusia County deputies say they’ve arrested a teenager who accidentally shot a friend in the back as they sat in a car together at a park in Deltona Saturday evening.
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Deputies responded to reports of a shooting at Three Island Nature Park around 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
Before making it to the scene, a Volusia County deputy was flagged down by a driver and passenger in a car on Howland Blvd. near Candler Drive who were yelling for help, saying another passenger in the car had been shot in the back.
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Deputies immediately began providing first aid for the shooting victim until an ambulance arrived and took them to a hospital.
The victim, identified only as a 17-year-old boy, was stabilized but remains in critical condition.
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Volusia Sheriff’s Office investigators determined the shooting happened when the victim and three other friends were sitting in the car at the nature park when the teen sitting in the rear passenger seat pulled a gun from his picket and accidentally fired a shot through the front passenger seat and into the victim’s back.
Deputies say the 17-year-old shooter and another passenger in the car ran away from the scene, but both were eventually returned to the sheriff’s office for interviews.
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During the interview, deputies say the shooting suspect was “adamant” that it was an accident, claiming that the gun went off as he was trying to take his cell phone out of the same pocket. He admitted to getting rid of the gun, which hasn’t been located, as he was running from the car.
The shooter was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed firearm, discharging a firearm in public and improper exhibition of a firearm.
He was taken to the Volusia Family Resource Center for processing then taken into custody at the Department of Juvenile Justice.
See body-worn camera video of the sheriff’s office response below:
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