HOMESTEAD, Fla. – An 18-year-old has been arrested in connection with a shooting in Homestead that left a 14-year-old boy critically injured.
The shooting occurred just before 11:30 a.m. Sunday at an apartment complex on Mowry Drive.
According to the suspect’s arrest report, witnesses told police that they were hanging out in a bedroom with the suspect, Jose Thomas Rios, and the victim, and Rios was showing off his gun on social media.
One witness said Rios then pointed a gun at the victim and said while laughing, “I am going to kill you.”
Police said Rios then fired the gun, striking the victim once in the chest.
The witness and victim both told police that they believed the shooting was an accident, the arrest report stated.
Authorities also interviewed another witness who had gone to the bathroom at the time of the shooting and heard one gunshot.
The victim was airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical Center in extremely critical condition.
Despite his condition, Local 10 News spoke with a man who lives at the home, who said he believed the teen was going to be OK.
He said the victim is the grandson of his girlfriend and was visiting them at their home.
Local 10 News also spoke with Rios’ father, who confirmed the victim is his brother’s girlfriend’s son and said he didn’t know where his son got the gun.
“I don’t know where he got it from,” he said, adding he’d never seen his son with a gun before.
Rios was arrested on charges of attempted manslaughter, child neglect resulting in great bodily harm and displaying a firearm while committing a felony.
“The Homestead Police Department cannot stress enough the importance of the proper handling of a firearm,” a spokesman for the police department stated in a news release.
Rios was held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center before being released on house arrest with an alternate bond of $7,500.
According to his arrest report, he denied the accusations against him while speaking with detectives.
“It hurts me because, you know, it was an accident,” the suspect’s father, Alfredo Rios, told Local 10 News, adding that he does not know where his son got a gun from and that he has never seen him with a gun before.