Boy grazed in the head by bullet while traveling on I-95; 1 charged with negligence

J.D. Gallop | Florida Today

A 21-year-old man suspected of firing random shots from an AR-15-style rifle faces several misdemeanor charges in connection with a shooting along Interstate 95 that left a 9-year-old truck passenger with a graze wound.

Deputies spotted 21-year-old Justin Weaver - along with his girlfriend - in the area moments before he fired off at least one round from the .300 caliber rifle. He had been shooting recreationally when the incident happened, authorities reported. It is, however, illegal in Florida to discharge a firearm in public or on residential property near a road or highway.

I-95 shooting Update Update on I-95 shooting

Investigators said Weaver - a once promising running back for Cocoa High School - had apparently been shooting off rounds from the rifle not far from the interstate when one of the bullets smashed into the truck cab's rear passenger window moments later, shattering the glass and striking the child along the head before apparently barrelling through the back window, reports show.

Weaver was being held on $4,000 bond at the Brevard County Jail Complex. Weaver was charged with culpable negligence with injury, five counts of culpable negligence, discharging a firearm in public or on residential property, and possession of marijuana, records show.

The shooting left the aunt of the boy - who is recovering - in shock. Crystal Pollock was driving along to Interstate 95 with four children and her nephew on the way to a birthday party when a loud popping sound caught her attention. Then came the panicked screams from the back of the truck cab and the dazed look on her 9-year-old nephew’s face as blood streaked from the top of his head.

“(The kids) started saying, ‘He’s been shot, he’s been shot.’ I turned back and my nephew was staring…looking dazed and confused, just looking straight ahead,” said Pollock, who then pulled off the interstate, going through red lights to find help.

“I told the kids to get down and didn’t know what else to expect,” she said.

The boy was alert and airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando as a precaution. He is home recovering. Overnight, deputies arrested Weaver.

The incident unfolded about 3 p.m. Sunday when witnesses said a truck with what appeared to be a small hole in the back window pulled into the parking lot of Ruby Tuesday in the 3000 block of South Fiske Avenue in Rockledge.

Pollock took a rag from the truck, placed it on the boy’s head to apply pressure as bystanders rushed to help. Two of the other children suffered superficial injuries from the shattered glass.

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More: Child injured in the head in a possible shooting in Rockledge Brevard County sheriff’s deputies fanned out across the area and quickly focused on a property off of Tucker Lane in West Cocoa that is near the stretch of Interstate 95 where the shooting took place. A deputy who had been observing Weaver and his girlfriend shortly before the shooting quickly took Weaver into custody, reports show.

Weaver attended Cocoa High School in his senior year and was a running back for the football team after transferring from Rockledge High in 2014. Weaver rushed for 1,203 yards and 17 touchdowns in the regular season, and he was named second-team all-state by the Associated Press.

Sunday’s incident was not his first arrest.

Several months after In 2015, after signing with Independence Community College in Kansas, Cocoa Beach police charged him with a felony battery. Police said he struck another person with a closed fist but gave few other details.

Prosecutors later declined to move forward with the case. Weaver now works at a cabinetry shop and is a father, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office did not return calls about the shooting.

For Pollock, the shooting is the second incident in two years in which her family was traumatized by guns.

In 2016, Jason Mack — the son of a deputy — was charged with aggravated assault without intent to kill, after the Sheriff’s Office investigated reports he chased Pollock’s family in a road rage incident near U.S. 1 in Cocoa. Investigators said Mack used a racial slur against Pollock and then pulled a gun from his glove compartment and pointed it at her vehicle with four children inside. Pollock told her kids to duck down and later said to deputies that she was in fear for her life. Sunday, the memories of that incident flooded back as she found herself shouting for the children to get down, not knowing whether other shots were coming.

“I’m not good, I don’t want to leave my home. It’s just too much, you feel like you can’t protect your kids,” Pollock said. “This is something that no one is going to forget.”

Brian McCallum contributed to this article. Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter @JDGallop

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