14-Year-Old to Be Tried as Adult After Allegedly Attempting to Shoot Deputies in Standoff

A 14-year-old girl who allegedly attempted to shoot deputies during a standoff in Florida earlier this year will stand trial as an adult, the Associated Press reported.

After the girl was questioned by a judge Wednesday, her public defender and prosecutor ruled that she was competent to stand trial and understood the legal weight of the charges filed against her.

The girl was charged as an adult with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, burglary of a dwelling while armed, and criminal mischief that caused damage of $1,000 or more, the AP reported.

She and a 12-year-old boy were involved in the June 1 standoff, when they both allegedly broke into a home and opened fire on the responding Volusia County Sheriff's deputies. But records released by the sheriff's office showed that this wasn't the girl's first run-in with the law.

In 2018, she was charged with grand theft after stealing a dog that was worth $1,500. She was sent to a teen court for the offense but did not follow the requirements imposed on her, according to the AP.

She was required several times in the same year to get mental health evaluations for attacking her mother by kicking and biting her, throwing rocks at a supervisor who worked at a home for struggling youths, grabbing a knife while arguing with her brothers, and breaking a living room mirror with a bat.

She was also forced to undergo additional mental health evaluations in 2019, once after threatening to take her own life and another time for disclosing that she attempted to fatally overdose on prescription drugs, the records said. The girl also started five fires in a wooded lot in April.

The 12-year-old boy who also took part in the June standoff had threatened to kill another student in the past and threw a brick at a school administrator, according to sheriff's records.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

The girl and a 12-year-old boy ran away from a children's home after she argued with staff over her desire to go outside and catch lizards.

Prosecutors said the pair broke into a house and armed themselves with weapons they found there, including an AK-47, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .22-caliber pistol. Then they opened fire on Volusia County Sheriff's deputies who responded to the break-in, according to the sheriff's office and body camera video.

The deputies initially held their fire, but eventually shot the girl after she pointed a shotgun at them and refused to put it down. The boy surrendered and wasn't hurt.

The girl remains in jail without bond pending her next hearing on Jan. 10.