ORLANDO - A suspect was killed and two Orange County deputies wounded in a gun battle Wednesday after a quick-thinking 8-year-old called 911 while assailants tried to steal a stash of marijuana from his family's home, officials said.
Another suspect was wounded and a third was arrested.
The boy, his mother and twin sisters were leaving for school in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Orlando when three people approached and forced the woman back into the house, said Jim Solomons, a Sheriff's Office spokesman.
While the intruders were robbing the family, the boy called 911 on a cell phone from the car and deputies arrived.
The robbers forced the mother to go out and tell the deputies nothing was amiss. But the deputies, suspicious, waited until the robbers emerged, Solomons said. At that point, the gun battle erupted.
The dead suspect wasn't immediately identified. Deputies Dwayne Martin, 33, and Jennifer Fulford, 31, were in surgery but didn't have life-threatening injuries, Solomons said. Suspect George Jenkins, 25, was critically injured. Shaun Byrom, 20, was arrested.
Deputies said they found 350 pounds of marijuana in the home. "The suspects came here to do a robbery, to take the dope and money," said Sgt. John Allen of the Sheriff's Office.
