AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Auburndale police have arrested a 15-year-old they say shot and killed a man in his car earlier this month.
Police responded around 4 p.m. on May 5 to a home on Reiter Drive and Timothy Street. They arrived to find a 27-year-old man with a gunshot wound inside his 2022 Chrysler Pacifica.
The man was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center where he later died from his injuries.
Investigators say the man was driving through the neighborhood to pick up another man to complete a narcotics transaction. When the pair was driving toward the exit of the neighborhood on Reiter Drive, the 15-year-old walked into the road to stop the car, according to an arrest affidavit.
The affidavit says the teen then pulled out a gun and fired one shot toward the car. The bullet missed the driver but caused him to put his car in reverse in an effort to get away.
As the driver was reversing his car, investigators say the man in the passenger seat jumped out and ran off.
When the driver stopped his car and began to drive forward again, the teen fired a second shot through the driver's side window, hitting the man on the left side of his chest, according to the affidavit.
The teen ran off and the man's car continued moving forward, crashing into a chainlink fence on the north side of Reiter Drive.
The 15-year-old was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, shooting into a car, and possession of a firearm by a minor.
