ORMOND BEACH -- An 11-year-old middle school student faces five felony charges after he fired a BB gun at a group of children at a school bus stop Friday morning.

Two 13-year-old students, a boy and girl, were struck by the BBs and were treated by a nurse at Holly Hill Middle School, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. The assailant was taken to a juvenile detention center.

Investigators said they didn't know why the boy began firing at his fellow students.

Students were gathered on a corner in the Daytona Pines subdivision. Witnesses told police the 11-year-old talked briefly with another student at the bus stop, went back to his house and got a pump-action BB gun and started firing, investigators said.

Moments later, the bus arrived and the victims and other children got on. The 11-year-old also tried to board and threatened another student, investigators said. The driver ordered him off the bus.

He was charged with two counts of aggravated battery, one count of aggravated assault, shooting into an occupied vehicle and possession of a weapon by a minor.

Sleeping with gun bad for man's health, freedom

BONITA SPRINGS -- A convicted murderer is again under arrest after he shot himself in the foot while sleeping with a sawed-off shotgun that he calls a family heirloom, authorities said.

Lee County sheriff's officials said Friday that Luis A. Chavarria, 41, told them he sleeps with the double-barreled shotgun, which has been passed down for generations, as protection. The gun went off Wednesday and seven tiny pellets struck him in the right foot, causing minor injuries.

A relative drove Chavarria to a hospital, where deputies were called. After completing treatment, Chavarria was jailed on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a short-barreled shotgun.

Chavarria was convicted in 1989 of second-degree murder for shooting another man and was released from prison last year after 10 years of a 17-year sentence.

Gunman kills two, wounds two, then kills himself

MONTICELLO -- A man fatally shot two people and wounded two others before killing himself, the Jefferson County sheriff said.

Earnest Hill, 48, opened fire on a group of people Thursday night outside a mobile home about 7 miles south of Monticello. He was armed with a .357-caliber Magnum, said Sheriff Ken Fortune.

"The shooter was in a car, pulled up and shot them," he said. "The shooter then went to his house and committed suicide."

Alberta Walker, 28, was killed. Sam Johnson died on the way to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Fortune said.

No one knew why Hill started shooting. "They were all out here drinking and having a good time," said Walker's husband, Calvin Jones.

Hill lived about a mile from the victims.

Walker's sister, Carolyn Walker, and her fiance, Ira Joe Allen, were wounded by Hill's gunshots. Both were admitted to Tallahassee Memorial, but Allen was soon discharged. Carolyn Walker was in fair condition Friday.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk