ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A mother was arrested Thursday morning after her 11-year-old son shot two teens at a Pop Warner football practice in Apopka earlier this year, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sharelle Johnson, 33, was taken into custody and faces a charge of negligence over leaving a loaded firearm within reach of a minor.
The State Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday that Johnson had left the firearm in a “worn and tattered” cardboard box without any safety locks or fasteners.
Johnson’s son was arrested in October after he shot two other children — both 13 years old — in a parking lot near the football field, Apopka police said.
Surveillance video released after the shooting shows one of the teens chasing the 11-year-old to his mother’s car, where he retrieved a firearm from the vehicle and fired a round at one of the boys chasing him, according to investigators.
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Bullets struck the two teens, causing them both to be taken to the hospital, police said.
According to a charging affidavit, some witnesses said the three boys had been fighting over a bag of chips. Other witnesses said the 11-year-old was being bullied, an arrest report states.
Immediately following the shooting, Johnson was seen exiting the car and grabbing her son, bringing him back over to the vehicle, the video shows. News 6 has cut out the portion of the video where the shooting took place.
[VIEW THE SURVEILLANCE VIDEO BY CLICKING IN THE MEDIA VIEWER BELOW]
The 11-year-old was later taken into custody and faces a charge of attempted murder.
At the time, Apopka Police Chief Mike McKinley warned parents about the importance of properly securing firearms.
“(Johnson’s) firearm was in a box that didn’t have a lock on it,” said McKinley, adding that adults need to be more responsible. “We will be pursuing charges. For that crime, it is a second-degree misdemeanor. For all the parents out there, you have a firearm in your car or a firearm in your house, you have a responsibility to make sure that that firearm is secure and not accessible to your children because it only takes one bad decision and a split-second to ruin their lives.”
Johnson is held on a bond of $2,500. Prosecutors said that if she is convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.
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