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As penance for her loss, mother asks for letters

Louis J. Mevec's careless act of gunplay killed Sean Caroline II. As the teen prepares to serve his sentence, Sean's mother wants Louis to write to her as he reaches the milestones of youth.

LARGO - Jeanne Caroline looked forward to her son going on his first date, getting his driver's license and graduating from high school.

That happy future vanished on Sept. 5 when her son, 12-year-old Sean Caroline II, was accidentally shot to death by a schoolmate. The shooting occurred as the other youth played with a handgun he had fetched from under his father's couch.

On Wednesday, Louis J. Mevec, 14, admitted guilt to a manslaughter charge in juvenile court. Before he was sentenced, Jeanne Caroline asked him to write her letters as he does those things her son never will.

"When you get your driver's license, I want you to write me. I want you to tell me how it feels," she said in a tearful statement. "When you graduate from high school, I want you to write me and tell me how it feels. When you go to your prom, write me and tell me how it feels.

"You can only imagine what I feel," she said.

Minutes later, a judge sentenced Louis to a moderate-risk residential treatment program. The sentence carried no specific period of incarceration, but most youths who go attend for between six and nine months.

Though Mrs. Caroline and her husband, Sean, are angry with Louis, their feelings about him are conflicted. They realize the boy, who has no previous police record, didn't mean to shoot Sean and that his own experience through the tragedy has been harrowing.

"I understand you're a victim as much, in part, as Sean. But ... you knew you weren't supposed to to touch the gun," Sean's father said to Louis. "And you need to be punished for that."

The Carolines place more blame on the shooter's father, Louis S. Mevec, who stored the loaded gun under the couch. Mevec is awaiting trial on a charge of culpable negligence in connection with Sean's death. He could face up to five years in prison.

When the Carolines came to court Wednesday, they hoped a judge would require the young boy to speak with other youngsters about the dangers of mixing children and guns. They envisioned him going to schools and youth camps to tell his story, which they hoped would save other families from experiencing their tremendous pain.

"I want kids to go to their parents if they see a gun in their complex or somebody else's house," Sean Caroline said. "If they see a gun that is in sight, go tell your parents, tell that you saw a gun over at Johnny's house so that your parents have the option of calling the police."'

Judge Robert J. Morris Jr. said he could not force Louis to talk publicly about his experience, but he suggested it to Louis during sentencing. He also suggested Louis write the letters that Mrs. Caroline requested.

The two boys, Louis and Sean, along with some other boys, including Louis' younger brother, were skipping school Sept. 5 when they went to Louis' Whispering Palms apartment. It was believed to be the first day Sean, a seventh-grader, ever skipped class at Largo Middle School, and his parents think he may have done it because he was late to school.

Louis knew his dad kept the .357-caliber Magnum under the couch and that he wasn't to touch it, but he took it out. Louis and Sean were sitting in a bedroom, Louis wielding the handgun, which he believed his younger brother had unloaded. But there was one round in the gun.

He pulled the trigger a few times while pointing the gun at Sean, who was playing a video game. Then it fired, striking Sean in the head and killing him instantly.

The Department of Juvenile Justice had recommended that Louis be sent to a high-risk residential program, which probably would have placed the teen with more boys with criminal records. A psychologist had suggested that a moderate-risk program was more appropriate, and the judge agreed that was in Louis' best interest.

Juvenile justice officials will decide what kind of moderate-risk program Louis should attend, whether it be a boot camp or a boys village situation where education and counseling are stressed. The psychologist who interviewed Louis recommended a boys village in San Antonio, Fla.

Depending on how well he does, he probably will be out of that program in six to nine months. The Department of Juvenile Justice will monitor his re-entry into society. That monitoring could continue until he is 21, but a judge also could end it if Louis does well.

Louis also will get his driver's license a year late and must perform 100 hours of community service. Morris said if therapists decide it is in his best interest, Louis should consider spending those hours educating other children about gun safety. He called it a "recipe for healing - one for you and for the Carolines."

"I hope that someday - somehow - you can become a spokesman for the dangers of guns in the hands of juveniles," the judge said. "You have an opportunity to do something huge, to really make a difference in this community."

Morris said Louis - a short, dark-eyed and slightly chubby-cheeked child - was a "pretty good kid." But he acknowledged the heartache the boy's mistake had caused the Carolines.

"I don't know that I have presided over a more difficult case in my time on the bench," Morris said. "The tragedy is on both sides of the room."

Neither Louis nor his father made any statement to the Caroline family in court, though young Louis cried openly as Sean's family spoke. His father declined to comment after the hearing.

However, the Carolines said he, along with Louis' mother, approached them with tears in their eyes after the hearing and said they were sorry. They promised to make Louis do everything the Carolines asked.

Still, they hope Mevec will receive the maximum sentence if he's convicted of the culpable negligence charge. If he had a simple lock on the gun, they said, Sean could be looking forward to a driver's license, proms and graduation.

"That's what makes this really irritating," Sean Caroline said. "More than irritating. It makes this unforgivable."

Friends of Sean Caroline's family are raising money for the family with a golf tournament set for Nov. 8 at the Largo Golf Course. For information, call Tracy and Mike Jeffries at (727) 586-1533.