11-year-old charged with attempted murder in shooting at Pop Warner football practice

An 11-year-old boy is facing attempted murder charges and two 13-year-olds are hospitalized after a shooting sparked by an altercation at a Florida football field, police said Tuesday.

The younger juvenile grabbed an unsecured gun from his mother’s car and fired a single shot as the teens ran away in the parking lot, hitting one in the torso and the other one in an arm, Apopka police Chief Mike McKinley said at a Tuesday morning news conference. Both injured minors are in stable condition, he said.

The incident took place Monday night during a Pop Warner football practice in Apopka, a city of 55,000 in central Florida, about 20 miles northwest of Orlando.

What happened in the football shooting?

The encounter started when the 11-year-old had food slapped from his hands, WESH-TV reported.

“As a society, we need to reflect on this. We see this all the time now,” McKinley said. “It’s a shame. No one wants to arrest an 11-year-old by any means.”

The boy was charged with one count of attempted second-degree murder and booked into the juvenile assessment center. McKinley said the boy’s mother may face a second-degree misdemeanor charge of leaving a gun unsecured.

The chief said no one else was injured, and that further charges would be determined by the court system.

“Our hope is that the 11-year-old gets the assistance he needs to make sure this isn’t a resolution for the rest of his life,’’ McKinley said. “There’s no doubt that he can turn things around. Hopefully our court system, with diversion programs and counseling and other things, can help him past this and move to a point where reaching for a firearm is not his resolution for the future.”

Contributing: The Associated Press