A Central Florida teenager who accidentally shot his friend in the back at a Deltona park was arrested on several charges.
Jeremie Cuevas, 17, of Orange City, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed firearm, discharging a firearm in public and improper exhibition of a firearm in the incident that seriously injured his friend, also 17.
While responding to the shooting, a deputy on his way to the scene near Three Island Nature Park was flagged down by a driver and passenger in a car on Howland Boulevard near Candler Drive. The two were yelling for help, saying the passenger was shot in the back.
Deputies provided first aid and applied a chest seal to the victim’s back before an ambulance arrived and transported him to a hospital.
An investigation into the shooting revealed that the victim and three friends were sitting in the car at the nature park when Cuevas, who was sitting in the rear right passenger seat, got a gun out of his pocket and accidentally fired a shot through the front passenger seat and into the victim’s back.
Cuevas and another passenger ran away after the shooting, but deputies found Cuevas in Orange City and brought him in for an interview. The other passenger also returned to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office to be interviewed.
According to law enforcement, Cuevas was adamant that the shooting was an accident and that the gun went off when he was trying to take his cell phone out of the same pocket. He said he discarded the gun after running from the vehicle; the gun was not immediately located.
Cuevas was taken to the Volusia Family Resource Center for processing and then transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice to be held in custody. The victim was listed in critical but stable condition at the hospital.
