A 15-year-old Florida boy has been charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting a 13-year-old girl aboard a school bus as her younger sister looked on.
Jordyn Alexander Howe pulled a gun from his backpack and was showing it to other children on the Homestead school bus on Tuesday morning when the weapon fired, striking Lourdes Guzman in the neck, according to an arrest affidavit. She was airlifted to a Miami hospital where she died.
Nine children were on the bus at the time, including the victim's 7-year-old sister. None of the other children on the bus was injured, and all were taken to the Miami-Dade County homicide bureau for questioning, police said.
"We're dealing with small children so the questioning process is going to be a lot different . . . they're already shaken up of course with what they just had to witness and on top of that you have to question them," said Alvaro Zabaleta, Miami-Dade County Police Public Information Officer. "So, this is going to take a very slow and tedious process, we have to take into account these are children we're talking to."
Meanwhile, parents were arriving at the school knowing something had happened but many not sure exactly what, according to WSVN.
"My sister called me and told me something happened," said one woman.
Finally they received the news.
"They said there was a shooting and a young girl got shot and was killed," said a parent.
"It is scary to find out your kids are in this, you never expect it. You expect them to go to school safe," says Maria Romero, who was visibly shaken.
Howe has also been charged with carrying a concealed firearm, police said, but information on the type of gun wasn’t disclosed.
The bus, which transported children to several charter schools, did not have video surveillance equipment, police said.