When children kill, what are courts to do?
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ORLANDO, Fla. (WFLA/ NewsNation) — A 10-year-old girl has been arrested after she allegedly shot and killed a woman in Orlando on Memorial Day.
The girl was arrested on a second-degree murder charge.
Two women, identified as Lakrisha Isaac, 31, and Lashun Denise Rodgers, 41, began fighting at the barbeque area of the Windsor Cove Apartments just before midnight on Memorial Day, WESH reports.
During the fight, Isaac allegedly handed her backpack to her 10-year-old daughter.
WESH reported witnesses saw the girl searching through the backpack as the two women fought. Then they heard a gunshot.
Deputies told WESH that the girl allegedly yelled, ”You shouldn’t have messed with my mother,” after she fired two rounds.
Rodgers was reportedly shot in the back of the head and later died at a hospital.
Isaac was arrested on multiple charges, including not properly storing a firearm and manslaughter by culpable negligence.
“It’s not liberal or conservative. It’s just being a human being. We really shouldn’t be caging 10-year-olds by the actions of adults who hand them loaded guns. What do we expect is gonna happen?” Ken Padowitz, the prosecutor on the Lionel Tate case, said during an appearance Wednesday night on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”
Tate was 13 when he was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1999 death of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick. Tate was sentenced to life in prison.
Lawyers on both sides admitted that the system was not prepared to handle a brutally violent case involving such a young defendant. Tate was set free from prison in 2003, but not for long. While on parole, Tate robbed a pizza delivery man and was then sent back to prison for 30 years.
Padowitz says the system still isn’t designed to handle these kind of situations.
“The lessons from Lionel Tate is, let’s not take young children and place them in an adult system, with adult punishments,” Padowitz added.
In a statement released Tuesday, State Attorney Monique H. Worrell called the Florida shooting “one of the most tragic cases” she has seen in her 22-year career.
“We encourage the public to remember — no matter your feelings surrounding this tragedy — this is still a child,” she added. “This shooting is an unimaginable tragedy that defies easy solutions.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
