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Girl, 10, given 15 days for pulling gun
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- A judge found a 10-year-old girl guilty of four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for pulling a handgun during a fight with several older neighborhood girls. The girl, whose name is being withheld by the Citrus Times because of her age, was sentenced to spend 15 days in a juvenile detention facility, the mandatory punishment for young firearms offenders convicted in juvenile court. She is also being expelled from elementary school for two years, said Assistant Public Defender David Bauer, who represented the girl at trial. Although the 10-year-old was the only one convicted of a crime in the May 20 brawl, Circuit Judge Ric A. Howard admonished all the girls involved, telling them they should be ashamed of themselves for fighting. "There was absolutely nothing good about this case," said Assistant State Attorney Jeffery Smith. "It never should have happened in the first place." According to court testimony, the four alleged victims in the case were hanging out in the driveway of a friend's house in the area of Longfellow Street and Tennyson Point in Homosassa when the 10-year-old, her 14-year-old sister and two other friends walked by on their way to the 10-year-old's house and yelled obscenities. The older girls drove to the 10-year-old's house to "see what their problem was," testified Ebony Bishop, 16, one of the victims. A fight broke out between Bishop and the 10-year-old's sister. The 10-year-old jumped on Bishop's back to break up the fight, but was slung to the ground, according to court testimony. The four older girls were preparing to drive away when the 10-year-old ran into her house. She testified that she kicked down her mother's locked bedroom door and grabbed the Smith & Wesson handgun from its zippered pouch. The girl then ran outside and pointed the weapon at the car, several witnesses testified. "She said, 'I'm crazy, I'll shoot you, I'll kill you,' " said Chris Green, a neighbor who watched the 10-year-old leave her house with the gun. The gun was unloaded and no one was injured. The 10-year-old told authorities she was "in fear for her life and her sister's life" when she made the decision to retrieve the handgun, according to testimony from Citrus County sheriff's Deputy Charles Schanel. After she is released from the detention facility in Marion County, the 10-year-old will be on probation until she performs 100 hours of community service and completes Department of Juvenile Justice classes on the consequences of crime, Smith said. "It really bothers me that a 10-year-old girl learned that the way to resolve problems is with a gun," Smith said. "It's a really sad case." -- Crime reporter Carrie Johnson can be reached at 860-7309 or cjohnson@sptimes.com.
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