WHITE SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) – After suffering years of abuse at home, a 15-year-old girl broke into her parents’ locked room through a window, took their gun while they were away and shot her 16-year-old brother to death, authorities said.
On Wednesday, authorities released police documents and interviews describing the abuse, including that the girl was locked in a room for weeks at a time with only a blanket and a bucket to use the bathroom.
The shooting at a small white house off a dirt road in rural north Florida happened Monday while the children’s parents were away for work. The father, a truck driver, and his wife, who often went with him, left the 16-year-old boy to watch over the 15-year-old, her 11-year-old sister and their 3-year-old sister, police said. The parents left Sunday and were due back Tuesday.
Sometime Monday, the 15-year-old girl was locked in her room by her brother, police said. After the boy fell asleep, she talked her 11-year-old sister into unlocking her door.
The older girl knew her parents kept a pistol in their room, but they had locked their door. So the girl went outside and used a knife to remove an air conditioner from her parents’ bedroom window. She climbed in while her 11-year-old sister kept watch and grabbed the gun out of a pink bag and loaded it, police said.