Photo: GoFundMe
A Kansas teenager was fatally shot by his mother at home, according to police per PEOPLE.
On Wednesday (October 9), police found 16-year-old Robert Florence with a single gunshot wound in the family’s apartment in Wichita, Kansas.
Police said his mother, Tesha La Sha Florence, 46, called to report that she had shot her son. Robert was taken to the hospital in “extremely critical condition.” Days later, he succumbed to his injuries on October 11.
On the day of the shooting, Florence was booked into Sedgwick County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated battery. She also faces charges of second-degree murder following her son’s death.
“This is a tragic incident that has forever altered a family,” Chief Joe Sullivan said in a statement. “Gun violence affects our entire community and cannot be tolerated.”
Robert’s older brother, Kurtis Florence, said the family had been struggling financially. With one car, Kurtis said he drove his girlfriend and his mother to work and his brothers to school before going to his own job.
On the day of the shooting, Robert stayed home from school because he didn't have any clean clothes to wear, Kurtis said. Kurtis said he came home to the sound of sirens after dropping off their other brother at school.
“My mom wasn’t the type to go off the rail,” he said. “I’m convinced that it was an accident and that it wasn’t intentional.”
A GoFundMe page was set up to raise money for funeral expenses for Robert, who was remembered as “a cherished son, sibling, and friend, who touched the lives of so many with his kindness, humor, and generous spirit.”
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