Kids, 12 and 14, engage in shootout with deputies [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy from Florida had a shooting encounter with deputy officers on Wednesday.
• The minors escaped from their foster home at Florida United Methodist Church on Tuesday.
• The girl sustained injuries from a gunshot but is already in stable condition.

Officials reported that a 14-year-old girl from Florida was hospitalized on Wednesday following sustained injuries from a gunshot, after she and another 12-year-old boy trespassed into a residence and stole guns they used against the police.

The minors, who are residing in a group home in Volusia County, ran away Tuesday and broke into one’s home, per the sheriff’s office.

Given their young age, the identities of the minor delinquents were not disclosed by NBC News.

Foster home Florida United Methodist Church, which sheltered the two children, issued a moratorium on its Emergency Shelter Care program for the next one month following the incident.

In a statement, the church president and CEO Kitwana McTyer said that the volume of children being sent to the organization was “beyond the scope of our capabilities to provide the care required.”

“This situation is tragic and is the result of the system failing our children. These children are in desperate need of care in the appropriate setting, which is a higher level of care than we provide,” he said.

According to Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the minors had been reported missing from their foster home at around 5 pm Tuesday.

Around two and half hours later, officers received a break-in report within the residence and saw smashed windows as they arrived at the scene. Deputies first reached out with the homeowner and did not immediately go inside the house. The homeowner told them that there was no one home but he had three guns with 200 rounds of ammunition left there.

Per Chitwood, the children found the guns — one pistol, one shotgun and a gun that looked like an AK-47 rifle with ammunition — which they reportedly used against the officers who came in the vicinity.

“Nobody comes to work to shoot and kill anybody. We certainly don’t come to work to get into gun fights with 12- and 14-year-olds,” Chitwood said at a news conference.

The sheriff’s office reported that the gunfire was coming inside the home for more than half an hour. When the girl came out of the garage, she got shot after pointing the shotgun at officers. Fortunately, the 14-year-old kid was out of surgery and in stable condition the following day, as she recovered from the hospital. Nobody from the deputies was injured, based on the officials’ report.

Per the sheriff’s office, the shooting will be investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which will also involve the eight officers who participated in the shooting.

According to NBC affiliate WESH2, the younger kid appeared in court Thursday as he faced armed burglary and attempted murder of police authorities.

Source: NBC News