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Boy, 12, arrested on suspicion of pointing gun at people, police say

By Katlyn Brieskorn and Michael Springer
By Katlyn Brieskorn and Michael Springer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Daytona Beach Police Department said a 12-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of pointing a loaded gun with a laser light at other children near a basketball court.

Police said they took the boy into custody Tuesday at John H. Dickerson Community Center after learning he was in violation of a court-ordered curfew.

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The Daytona Beach Police Department said a witness told officers he saw the boy pointing a gun at other children on the basketball court.

Officers conducted a body search on the boy and found a brass bullet casing inside one of his pockets, which the boy told officers he found at a nearby intersection.

Investigators said an officer searched the intersection and found a loaded semi-automatic pistol hidden underneath a dumpster. Officials said the weapon had been stolen three days earlier in Daytona Beach.

Security footage from the Dickerson Center shows the boy running from the basketball court to the same dumpster and then returning to the basketball court just before officers got to the scene, according to a report.

Investigators said the ammunition found in the gun matched the brass casing found in the boy's pocket.

This is not the first time the boy has been arrested. Police said in 2017 and 2018, he was involved in auto theft cases.

In July 2017, the Daytona police said he stole cars off a lot on Mason Avenue.

Officials said they would try to get the boy the help he needed to turn his life around.

"I was hurt because in this neighborhood, you got a lot of crime and I didn't know my kids was doing most of the crime," his father said.

In February 2018, the boy was arrested after surveillance video showed him trying to steal cars of a lot of Nova Road.

The boy's father was also arrested that year and is serving time for a conviction in state prison on drug and assault charges.

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