TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — An Orange County teenager confessed to shooting and killing a pregnant 16-year-old, according to NBC affiliate WESH.
The 17-year-old male suspect told investigators the whole thing was a “freak accident.”
The victim, a 16-year-old, was only five months pregnant when she was reported missing after being shot in October 2022. She was found four days after her 16th birthday in the front yard of an Orange County house.
“She was chasing me with something, and I was like, ‘Stop playing with me,’ in a playful way,” the suspect told detectives. “And my finger just slipped – boom… [It was a] freak accident… I forgot I had the gun on me, and then [the victim] jumped out the car, and I was like, ‘Oh,’ I pulled the trigger, and I thought it was on safety and it was an accident.”
The suspect told detectives he then dropped the gun and fled with a friend. WESH reported that witnesses nearby called 911.
The suspect’s family confirmed that he was beating the victim up after they had gotten into an argument.
Detectives believe the victim was shot while standing behind the car door, where the argument escalated.
According to an investigation, the suspect is accused of shooting and killing a woman in the past and claims it was also “unintentional.”
“So you’ve accidentally shot and killed two females, both of them shot in the head?” detectives asked. “How do you keep finding yourself in these situations?”
He answered, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
The suspect is charged with second-degree murder and is facing charges of killing an unborn child by injury to the mom.
His pre-trial is scheduled to start in September.
