Deland:
A14-year-old girl wounded in a shootout with Florida deputies last week after she and a 12-year-old boy escaped a juvenile facility and broke into a home with a cache of weapons was ordered on Tuesday to be held in detention for 21 days until she has another hearing.
The teen made her first appearance before a judge in Volusia County from a bed, news outlets reported.
She was initially hospitalized and required surgery but has since been transferred to a juvenile detention center where she is still undergoing medical care, Orlando television station WKMG reported.
The 14-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy left the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home near Deltona last week and broke into a house where they found an assault weapon, a shotgun and other weapons. They began firing on Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies who were searching for them.
Deputies finally shot and wounded the girl after she came out of the house and pointed a weapon at them, authorities said.
Both the girl and the boy have been charged with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and armed burglary of a dwelling. Authorities released their names but The Associated Press does not generally identify juveniles who have been charged with crimes.
Records released by the sheriff’s office show the girl was forcibly made to get a mental health evaluation several times in 2018 for kicking and biting her mother, throwing rocks at a supervisor at a shelter for youths in crisis, grabbing a knife during an argument with her brothers at the family’s home and smashing a living room mirror with a bat.
Also in 2018, she was charged with grand theft after stealing a dog worth USD 1,500, the records show. She was sent to teen court but failed to comply with the requirements.
In 2019, she again was forcibly made to get a mental health evaluation after she threatened to kill herself and another time when she said she had tried to overdose on prescription drugs because she wanted to die, according to the records.
In April, the teen set five fires in a wooded lot, the records show. She was sent to live with her mother, then placed in foster care, but she kept running away so she was sent to the juvenile home. The 12-year-old boy previously had made threats to kill another student and throw a brick at a school administrator, according to the sheriff’s records.
