A 13-year-old runaway who got into a shootout with Florida deputies last year along with a girlfriend pleaded no contest on Wednesday and was sentenced to a juvenile facility.
Travis O’Brien was just 12 when he and then-14-year-old Nicole Jackson holed up in a Volusia County house in June after breaking out of a local group home and opened fire on cops with a shotgun and an AK-47, WESH-TV reported.
“He’s a little tiny, little boy and he got into a big mess,” defense attorney Jeff Deen told the station Wednesday. “He wasn’t in control of his situation and he can’t understand some of the things that we understand.”
O’Brien did not contest charges of burglary, criminal mischief, and attempted murder of law enforcement officers, and was remanded to a maximum risk assessment program followed by parole.
The sentence cannot exceed his 21st birthday, the outlet reported.
The case against Jackson, now 15, is ongoing.
Tagged as the “Pint-sized Bonnie and Clyde”, the duo reportedly escaped from the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home and broke into an empty house at the nearby business on June 1.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of break-ins and came under fire – and were kept at bay by the youths for more than 35 minutes.
“They’re shooting at me,” an MP is heard saying on a viral video of the incident. “Hold the air. I’m code 4. She’s redoing a cartridge inside the shotgun!
“Let’s not fire them anymore”, we hear the dispatcher replied. “Don’t challenge them.”
Jackson is heard screaming in the footage after being hit by a return shot, and both runaways have been arrested.
According to New York Post, a local couple offered to adopt Jackson last year.