Dramatic new bodycam footage shows a 14 year-old girl wailing in pain after being shot when she and a 12 year-old foster home friend fired at cops with an AK-47.
Nicole Jackson and Travis O’Brien are accused of breaking into a home in Volusia County on Tuesday night and arming themselves with an AK-47 and rifle before repeatedly shooting at sheriff’s deputies as they tried to persuade them to surrender.
Their behavior saw them likened to a ‘young Bonnie and Clyde’ by Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood.
The stand-off ended with Jackson being shot in the chest, with newly-released bodycam footage capturing her wailing in pain after being struck.
The two children are facing charges of attempted first-degree murder of law enforcement officers and armed burglary. The man who owns the home they broke into has since revealed he fears it was targeted because he had a sheriff’s star hanging from the window, although no-one was home at the time.
O’Brien appeared in a juvenile court for the first time on Thursday where a judge ordered him to be arraigned on June 23.
Jackson is yet to face court as she remains in hospital after undergoing surgery for her gunshot wound.
Nicole Jackson, 14, and Travis O’Brien, 12, are accused of breaking into a home in Volusia County on Tuesday night and opening fire on officers during a 30-minute standoff that ended with the girl being shot
Authorities have released footage of the 30-minute standoff that ended when the 14-year-old girl was shot and the 12-year-old boy was forced to surrender. The boy is pictured above with his arms in the air walking towards police
Authorities have now released footage of the 30-minute standoff that only ended when the girl was shot when she emerged from the garage while pointing her gun at officers.
In the moments before she was shot, Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies were shouting over their radios that the girl was standing near a door with an AK-47 and shotgun.
They noted that the boy had armed himself with a handgun.
‘Stand by, she’s got the AK and the shotgun. She’s wrapping them around the top of her neck,’ a deputy can be heard saying.
Moments later, a deputy shouted: ‘Shot fired, goddammit. Shot fired again.’
The children then appeared to swap weapons with a deputy noting that the girl had now taken possession of the handgun, while the boy was armed with a ‘long gun’.
‘She’s pointing a gun, pointing a gun behind a trash can,’ a deputy then shouted.
The girl could be heard screaming in pain just seconds later as the aerial footage captured officers exchanging gunfire with the children.
The standoff that only ended when the girl was shot when she emerged from the garage while pointing her gun at officers. She is pictured above next to the blue trash can after being shot
The girl could be heard screaming in pain as aerial footage showed her lying on the ground (above) after being shot
The footage showed the boy appearing to immediately surrender as he walked towards deputies with his hands in the air.
Deputies repeatedly said the girl was lying on the ground near the trash can where she was shot.
After the boy was taken into custody, deputies could be seen running over to treat the injured girl.
Jackson ended up being rushed to Central Florida Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries and underwent surgery. She is now in a stable condition.
The two children had earlier run away from the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home where they were living. On Thursday, homeowner AJ Bedizel says he believed the children may have broken into the house because he had a sheriff’s star hanging from a window, a memento from when he served as a Brevard County Sheriff’s Deputy.
Bedizel told ClickOrlando that he was on a brief trip to a Publix supermarket with his two teenage daughters when their house was broken into.
No-one was home at the time, although Bedizel says his house was badly damaged during the shootout, and that he feels ‘violated’ by what happened there.
Florida United Methodist Children’s Home is a group home that started out as an orphanage. Police said they responded to the home hundreds of times last year for various incidents.
It is not clear why, or how long, the two children had been staying at the home.
The whole ordeal unfolded after O’Brien and Jackson were reported missing from the children’s home just before 5pm.
Deputies were searching the area when a neighbor reported hearing glass break at a home around 7.30pm.
The aerial footage captured officers exchanging gunfire with the children as the girl was shot. The officers can be seen on the far right behind the tree. The children are out of view having fired from the house
After the boy was taken into custody, deputies could be seen running over to treat the injured girl. Jackson ended up being rushed to Central Florida Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries and underwent surgery. She is now in stable
They contacted the homeowner after spotting two people inside but the owner told deputies they were not home and there were multiple guns inside the property.
The girl started shooting at deputies when they surrounded the home and ordered the pair to come out. Authorities say the children fired multiple rounds at deputies four times in the space of 30 minutes.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the two children, who he described as ‘evil’ and likened to ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, used a handgun, rifle and AK-47 to fire at deputies from several vantage points in the home.
No deputies were injured in the ordeal.
‘Deputies did everything they could tonight to de-escalate and they almost lost their lives to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old,’ Sheriff Chitwood said.
‘If it wasn’t for their training and their supervision… Somebody would have ended up dead.
‘They took rounds – multiple, multiple rounds – until they were left with no other choice but to return fire.’
Before the girl was shot, Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies were shouting over their radios that the girl was standing near a door with an AK-47 and shotgun