Tampa Girl, 17, Shot During Fight Over Marijuana Purchase, Police Say

TAMPA, FL — Tampa police are investigating the shooting of a 17-year-old girl at the Arbor Flats Apartments at 6237 S Manhattan Ave. near Robinson High School.

Police said the girl was shot Friday, Oct. 14, at 8:40 a.m. after she and a 16-year-old girl got into a fight about the 16-year-old attempting to purchase marijuana from the 17-year-old using a counterfeit $100 bill.

After the fight ended, the 17-year-old girl was walking away when she was shot in the back by a 16-year-old boy wearing a ski mask, Tampa police Chief Mary O'Conner said during a new conference Tuesday. The 17-year-old was rushed to the hospital where she remains in critical condition.

“The suspect was wearing a ski mask, so it was difficult to make a photo pack identification or a witness identification,” O’Connor said.

However, the investigation led detectives to a 16-year-old boy who is a relative of the 16-year-old girl.

They learned that the day before the shooting, the 17-year-old got into an argument with the 16-year-old boy over the same purchase of marijuana with the counterfeit bill. Afterward, the 16-year-old girl arranged to meet the 17-year-old girl at their apartment complex the next day to settle the matter with their fists.

Police searched the boy's home and recovered a 9mm semi-automatic handgun that was a ballistic match to a shell casing found at the shooting.

Once the teen was presented with the evidence, he confessed to the shooting, O’Connor said.

The teen has been charged with three felony counts including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree attempted murder with a firearm and aggravated battery with great bodily harm.

O'Connor discussed the teen's arrest just hours after a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot in the parking lot of a Tampa McDonald's restaurant.

For the second time this year, O'Connor appealed to the community to keep guns out of the reach of minors.

“We need the community to know that children and a gun are a very bad mix, so we need parents to know that if they have a firearm in their home to make sure it doesn’t get into the hands of their children; make sure it’s secured,” O’Connor said. “Search your children’s backpacks, search your children’s rooms, make sure that these firearms are not ending up in the hands of children who really can’t make good decisions with a gun.”