ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — There was a major turn on Wednesday in a deadly Central Florida shooting case.
The State Attorney’s Office has dropped charges against Jasper Rollins. He is accused of a deadly shooting outside Dezerland Park.
The State Attorney cites that key witnesses are no longer willing to testify.
Although State Attorney Monique Worrell said it is not case closed for the charges against Rollins.
“A homicide doesn’t have a statute of limitations,” Worrell said. “In the event any additional evidence comes to light we can always revisit this case.”
Rollins is accused of opening fire outside of Dezerland Park in April of 2023, killing a 14-year-old and injuring two other young people.
He was charged as an adult with second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm with a firearm.
Those charges have now been dropped.
“The witnesses in this case were all children,” Worrell said. “When you have witnesses who are children, it is sometimes very difficult to get them to testify.”
Advocacy group “Let Your Voice Be Heard” spoke out for the victims’ families and said in part:
“This decision sends a shockwave through our community. Families who have lost loved ones or watched their children survive life-changing violence deserve transparency, accountability, and a justice system that does everything within its lawful authority to pursue the truth.”
Worrell said the attorney handling this case had extensive conversations with those families explaining the current state of this case.
The families continue to ask what exactly occurred, what prevented the case from moving forward, and whether every reasonable avenue for accountability was pursued.
Let Your Voice Be Heard went on to say it does plan to take future public action for the families to get justice in this case.
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