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JORGE SANCHEZProsecutors will decide whether a shooting suspect should face adult court.
CRYSTAL RIVER - Prosecutors are trying to determine whether 11-year-old Antonio Alexander Fernandez should face the possibility of prison in the fatal shooting of his 13-year-old friend.
The youth was arrested on manslaughter charges hours after he shot Johnny Michael Masukevich during a game in which the boys took turns pointing and firing a revolver at each other, police said.
If found guilty in adult court, Fernandez could face prison time.
If convicted in a juvenile court, where his case currently resides, his age could play a significant role in where, or whether, he would be incarcerated, said a juvenile crimes prosecutor. Most likely he would be confined to a less restrictive campus-like setting.
At 11, Fernandez is not old enough to be housed at a Level 10 juvenile detention facility, where the most hardened juvenile offenders serve time.
"He would have to be at least 13 years old to be in a Level 10 facility," said Jeff Smith, who prosecutes juvenile crimes for the state attorney's office in Inverness.
The shooting occurred about 12:18 p.m. Sunday in Fernandez's home in northwest Citrus County. The boys, who live blocks apart, had retrieved a revolver from a locked bedroom floor safe.
Fernandez told detectives he knew where the combination was kept.
Prosecutors say they are still investigating the possibility of charges against the boy's mother, Larzara Fernandez, who was asleep when the shooting occurred, or her fiance.
Either of them could be charged if they knew the boy could open the safe and did not take take corrective action. The fiance was not home at the time of the shooting, and sheriff's officials did not release his name Monday.
Fernandez had his first appearance Monday morning in front of a juvenile court judge after spending the night in a juvenile detention center in Ocala. The judge ordered him held without bail up to 21 days while the investigation continues.
Citrus County Sheriff's Office detectives questioned more people Monday, said Gail Tierney, public information officer for the Sheriff's Office.
"They questioned the classmates of the boys. I believe they went to the school," she said.
That could indicate detectives were trying to find out whether Fernandez previously took the weapon out of the safe, since no classmates witnessed the shooting.
The arrest report also states that one of Masukevich's three sisters said she saw the gun about three days ago.
Florida law requires gun owners to ensure that loaded firearms are not accessible to minors.
"Those are questions we'd be looking at: Did the parents know that the boy knew where to get the combination? What steps did they take after they found out? Were they careless in keeping that information?" said prosecutor Richard Ridgway. "But this is going much further than I want to talk about right now."
Ridgway said his staff will make the decision on formal charges, rather going to a grand jury.
"This isn't the first, or even the second, such case of a juvenile-involved shooting, and we've never taken them to a grand jury in this circuit," Ridgway said Monday from Ocala. "We make those decisions ourselves in this office."
He said the grand jury would be used only if Fernandez would be tried as an adult.
"And I'm not sure that would be the appropriate method, but every case is different," Ridgway said.
Masukevich's mother, Michelle Ash, said Sunday she didn't think the boys were playing with the revolver, as Fernandez said. She said her son wouldn't point a gun at anyone or allow someone to point a gun at him.
Fernandez first told deputies he unloaded the weapon, then slipped a bullet into a chamber.
When questioned later, he said he never took any bullets out of the gun, but did see one bullet in the cylinder, police said.
Police declined Monday to disclose the make or model of the weapon.
Although Fernandez was arrested on manslaughter charges, the state attorney's office now must decide whether to press formal charges and proceed to trial.
Masukevich and Fernandez both attended Crystal River Middle School, where administrators were dealing with the tragedy Monday morning.
About a dozen counselors, social workers and school psychologists from the district were at the school to provide counseling.
"I can't imagine being on either end of that spectrum," said Rich Hilgert, the school district official who coordinated the crisis team.
Hilgert spent several hours at the school, and he said the atmosphere was somber.
"People were just like in shock," he said. "They were thinking, we knew these kids. It's hard to believe this happened. The progression of life is that you live to be older. ... It's just a tragic event, and everybody is numb."
Barbara Behrendt contributed to this report. Jorge Sanchez can be reached at sanchez@sptimes.com or 352 860-7313.