A Leesburg teen was arrested on Christmas Eve after an investigation into a shooting in November at a park.
Leesburg police had been called Nov. 28 to Berry Park on Johns Avenue regarding shots fired at a vehicle occupied by three women. When police arrived they saw a large group of people. They all denied there had been a shooting. One woman they interviewed said that she saw an argument occur between two women when one who was driving a red car almost hit a child with her car. She said she heard shots fired, but did not see who fired them.
The police were then flagged down by the women who had called 911 at the intersection of Beecher Street and Griffin Road. These women told the police that one of them went to the park with her children to play. While there she was approached by a woman who yelled at her for her driving. That woman reached into her car and hit her. She said she then left the park and went home where she told two other women what had happened. The trio decided to go back to the park and confront the woman. When they arrived back at the park and got out of their car they were attacked by the people in the park. Before they could leave a boy stepped out of the crowd and “let a whole clip go” the women told the police according to the arrest report. They also told the police the name of the shooter as he was someone they knew from previous encounters. The police noted that the car in which the women had been in had four bullet holes in the front of the vehicle. The police also observed a car that had a bullet hole in the passenger window at the park. They recovered 10 shell casings at the park where the woman said they were located when the youth shot at their car.
When the police met with the juvenile who had allegedly shot at the woman car he denied being in the park and shooting at anyone. He agreed to take a GSR test to show if he had fired a weapon within the last 24 hours. His mother also said that she was at the park and grabbed several kids and ran when she heard shots fired. The investigating officer noted in his report that when questioned at the park she had said no shots were fired.
The investigating officer was able to obtain a surveillance video from the park which showed the shooting. The three woman all identified the 17-year-old as the shooter when they were shown a photo lineup. The teen was charged with 30 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, shooting a weapon into an occupied vehicle, discharging a weapon in a public road and possession of a firearm by a minor. He was placed with the Department of Juvenile Justice.
