(Reuters) – A 10-year-old Florida girl has been arrested after police say she retrieved a gun from her mother’s backpack and fatally shot a woman during a physical altercation between the two women on Memorial Day.
The Orlando Police Department detained the unidentified girl and placed her in custody at the juvenile detention center on Tuesday, the department said in a statement. She has yet to be charged while her mother was arrested and charged with multiple offenses.
State Attorney Monique Worrell, who prosecutes cases in Orange County, said in a statement that her office was reviewing the case and will consider the age of the child and surrounding circumstances, when making a charging decision for her.
“This is one of the most tragic cases I have seen in my 22-year career,” Worrell said. “This shooting is an unimaginable tragedy that defies easy solutions.”
The girl’s arrest comes after a rash of mass shootings and a weekend of violence that have re-ignited a national debate over tighter restrictions on gun ownership.
On the night of May 30, Lashum Rodgers, 41, was cooking out in celebration of Memorial Day with her boyfriend in the rear of her Orlando apartment building, police said.
Lakrisha Isaac, 31, soon arrived with her daughter and began arguing with Rodgers over a recent dispute. After the two women began punching each other, Isaac’s daughter reached into her mother’s backpack and pulled out a gun, according to a police affidavit.
She shot twice, striking Rodgers in the head and killing her, police said. While still holding the firearm, the girl yelled, “she shouldn’t have hit my momma,” Rodgers’ boyfriend told police.
Isaac grabbed the gun and pointed it at the boyfriend’s chest as he raised his hands. She then fled into the apartment with her daughter.
Police arrived and arrested Isaac. The mother has been charged with manslaughter, child neglect, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and aggravated assault with a firearm.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
