The boy, who told authorities the two were playing a game, is charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old friend.
By JORGE SANCHEZ
Published October 4, 2004
[Times photo: Stephen J. Coddington]
Police interview Antonio Fernandez, 11, after Johnny Masukevich, 13, was fatally shot Sunday.
CRYSTAL RIVER - In the dining room, the 11-year-old said, he and the 13-year-old took turns pointing the revolver at each other and pulling the trigger.
On the third turn, Antonio Alexander Fernandez shot Johnny Michael Masukevich in the chest, authorities said Sunday.
Masukevich, 13, was pronounced dead a short time later.
Fernandez, 11, was charged with manslaughter.
The friends lived a couple of blocks from each other. They would have ridden the same school bus today to Crystal River Middle School.
Now Fernandez is being held without bail at a Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Lecanto. Masukevich's mother questions whether her son was killed playing a game.
"I know my son," said Michelle Ash, 38. "He would never, ever point a gun at anyone, and he would never let anyone point a gun at him."
After interviewing Fernandez, authorities gave this account:
The gun had been locked in a safe in a bedroom, but Fernandez knew where the combination to the lock was kept. He told detectives Masukevich unlocked the safe, but he took the gun out. Fernandez said he could see the gun had at least one bullet.
His mother, Larzara Fernandez, slept in a room nearby. The boys went into the dining room with Fernandez holding the revolver.
Fernandez told detectives that he and Masukevich took turns pointing the gun at each other and pulling the trigger. On the third turn, Fernandez fired the gun and shot Masukevich about 12:15 p.m. Sunday.
Masukevich's stepfather, David Ash, said Fernandez ran to his house to tell him.
"I ran back over there and found him lying on the floor near the doorway," Ash, 38, said between sobs. "I tried to give him CPR, and then a deputy arrived and tried it, but he was already gone."
Masukevich was pronounced dead at Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center.
Despite her doubts about what happened, Masukevich's mother called the shooting a tragedy for both families. She said Fernandez had been to her home a few times.
"I feel sorry for that boy," Michelle Ash said.
Masukevich was a seventh-grader at Crystal River Middle School. He loved to play sports such as basketball and football, said his sister, Kristi Hudak, 19. He had two other sisters, Staci Masukevich, 18, and Kelli Masukevich, 11.
The Masukevich family lives on West Laurel Oak Lane in a subdivision off Dunnellon Road (County Road 488) known as Holiday Heights in northwest Citrus County.
Masukevich was visiting Fernandez at 8505 N Pine Needle Ter. when the shooting took place.
Fernandez is a sixth-grader at Crystal River Middle School. Citrus Sheriff's spokeswoman Ronda Hemminger Evan said taking the gun from a locked safe and seeing a round of ammunition in it were factors that led authorities to charge Fernandez with manslaughter.
The state's culpable negligence law holds a gun owner responsible if the improper storage leads to a child's hurting or killing someone.
Masukevich's stepfather said the locked safe wasn't enough to keep Fernandez away from the gun.
"Let me tell you something," Ash said, "the kids have been coming up to this house all day long saying that boy knew there was a gun in his home, knew how to get it, and I want this investigated."
The arrest report states that one of Masukevich's sisters said she saw the weapon three days ago at Fernandez's home.
-- Jorge Sanchez can be reached at 352 860-7313 or e-mail sanchez@sptimes.com
