A 14-year-old Florida teen warming the bench in a juvenile detention facility has picked up a second-degree murder charge in connection with his 2023 fatal shooting of a 19-year-old, according to deputies. As if not depressing enough to question the fate of humanity, with kids this young acting this violently, the incident took place during a gun sale gone wrong.
It has been almost a year since the then-13-year-old runaway set up a meeting with 19-year-old Griffin Chase Smith at a Dollar General in Ocala, intending to sell him a Glock. The two had been texting back and forth about the transaction with the 13-year-old demanding payment in cash before ultimately settling for a CashApp payment, according to conversations included in the arrest affidavit.
Needless to say, the transaction didn’t go as planned. Witnesses to the incident say the 13-year-old wanted to extort additional money from Smith by claiming the $350 CashApp payment didn’t go through, but Smith, who had already had the Glock in hand and had made the payment, drove off in his truck, according to investigators.
That’s when authorities say the 13-year-old began shooting, striking Smith in his vehicle which he ultimately drove off the road until it came to a stop in a line of trees.
Deputies say first responders had to break the bullet-riddled truck’s windows to rescue Smith from the vehicle, though he succumbed to his injuries a short while later at the hospital. During the investigation, authorities found 14 rifle shell casings at the scene of the crime.
One year later, the boy, who is now 14, is being charged with second-degree murder, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. He was being held in juvenile detention when the charge was added. Over the last year, deputies have reviewed phone location records, conducted DNA swaps and interviewed witnesses, leading to the teen’s murder charge.
The suspect is accused of fleeing the scene, however, authorities took him into custody shortly after in nearby Alachua County where he was found with a stolen vehicle, prompting a brief chase, according to deputies.
The 14-year-old suspect is not being identified because he hasn’t been charged as an adult at this time, however, it is very clear, he was not on the path to becoming a model citizen and society is better off with such a person locked away well into adulthood..
Someone should tell him that it’s illegal to sell hand guns to 19 year olds, and that he can’t have a gun because he’s a minor as well. Oh, did he fill out the 4473 for the transaction and have an FFL?
In the end, he’ll make a plea deal and plead guilty to Driving Without a License and spend 10 days picking up roadside litter, and the DA will brag about the county’s case closure rate.
NY absolutely, FL we will see. Most of the south is far less tolerant on the bullshit regarding hardened juvenile criminals deserving reduced penalties.
It’s been awhile since I worked with Marion County. Back then they did not play. At any level of the justice system. My friend in Crystal River also maintains a house in Ocala, his hometown. He tells me stories a couple of friends with the S.O. relay to him. Apparently, they still don’t. Play, that is.
No mention of race? Gang affiliation? Sounds like a cultural issue.
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Kydris Jackson is his name and his mugshot is on the Marion County Sheriff’s dept Facebook. Found it through the Miami Herald website
Raised in a fatherless home?
Raised by a single mother with 2 or 3 brothers and sisters, each from a different man???
All supported by the Welfare Industrial Complex. Which was built by at.he-is.ts, who hated private church based welfare. Because the church requires morality, and a change of your behavior in both public and private.
And they were told a father’s love and discipline are not necessary in the home.
amen.
How to make a ho.mo-s.ex.ua.l. When they have never had sex before. Send the criminal teenagers to prison for at least 20 years.
As a law and order republican I support this.
They come out gay when their sentence is complete. And are law abiding from then on.
Once convicted give him the 1 appeal the Constitution requires and if found guilty execute him publicly then live stream it into every prison, jail and Juvenal detention facility in the nation on a continuous loop for a week.
“One year later, the boy, who is now 14…”
saved me some cipherin’.
my clocks stay on daylight savings. that kind of math i can do.
The shooter should be hired by the New York police department as a firearms instructor.
What is the current excuse for this?
Used to be lead in the gas, paint and plumbing.
Then it was crack.
Clinton locked them up.
Then the Freakonomics people said aborting them all was bringing the crime down.
Clinton was racist we let them all out.
Now it’s income inequality and institutionalized racism or the very existence of the guns themselves though that apparently was never an issue until the 80’s.
Funny that it’s never the parents or lack thereof or the schools they surrender so much time to or any of the media they consume at a rate of 12 hours+ a day.
You think it’s only 12 hours a day and they’re paying rapt attention during class? The 911 call about the school shooter yesterday was placed by a second-grader on her personal “smartphone”
14. That’s younger than the girl who shot up the school in WI, at least the girl had enough decency to off herself.