Allegations of abuse surface in teen sibling shooting

WHITE SPRINGS, Fla. -- A 15-year-old girl who killed her 16-year-old brother suffered years of physical abuse, including being locked in a room for days with only a blanket and a bucket to urinate in, and was sexually abused by her uncle, according to police reports and interviews.

The shooting happened while the children's parents were away for work. The father, a truck driver, and his wife, who often went with him, left the 16-year-old boy to watch over the 15-year-old, her 11-year-old sister and their 3-year-old sister, police said. The parents left Sunday and were due back Tuesday.

Sometime Sunday, the 15-year-old girl broke into her parents' locked bedroom and got a handgun as her 11-year-old sister kept watch, police said. The eldest sister shot her brother in the living room and fled with her 11-year-old sister, leaving behind the 3-year-old, police said.

"It's hard for us to get our arms around this act," Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter said. "This is the stuff nightmares are made of."

Law enforcement officials said they discovered the body of the 16-year-old brother late Monday night at the family's single-story home in rural White Springs in north Florida, a town of about 800 people.

Police have not released a motive for the shooting.

The girls are in juvenile detention and a prosecutor is trying to decide whether they will be charged as adults. Their parents face charges of child neglect and failing to supervise.

Police said they began looking for the girls after a tip from the mother of a friend of the younger sister. The friend had received a "weird phone call" from the girl, saying she had run away and needed someone to pick her up from a Dollar General store, according to a police report. When the woman arrived, she found the older sister there, too.

The older girl said something might have been wrong with another sibling at home. As she spoke, she applied makeup and "would not maintain eye contact and appeared emotionless," officers reported.

She started crying and told the officers her brother had beaten her and that she had shot him, according to the report.

Police documents released Wednesday said the girl's uncle was convicted of molesting her in 2010. They also say the children's mother discovered the siblings having sex. Authorities and child welfare officials investigated, but no one was charged.

Because of the girls' ages and abuse allegations, The Associated Press is not naming the girls, their brother or the parents.

Children arrested for crimes and treated as juveniles can be held in detention for a maximum of 21 days, per state law. But the judge has granted an extra nine days in this case.

The family lives off a dirt road. At their home Wednesday morning, a red truck and a car were parked outside the house, parked near a lawn mower and a scattering of children's toys. Few other houses are nearby.