“Stand by, shots fired at me again,” the deputy says from behind a tree, a few dozen yards from a house. “Juvenile male fired that one. Stand by. She’s got the AK and a shotgun, she’s wrapping it around the top of her neck.” Another loud crack. “SHOTS FIRED. God damn it,” the deputy tells dispatchers, immediately regaining a striking calm, given the circumstance. “Shots fired again. Female now has a pistol. Juvenile male now has a long gun so does the female. Stand by.”
“I’m gonna roll this down like GTA,” the girl told the boy, the boy would later tell deputies, referring to Grand Theft Auto, the video game.
“She’s pointing the gun. Pointing the gun behind the trash can,” another voice is heard saying, from a hovering helicopter (Volusia County’s Air One). Moments later, the night-vision camera angle from the helicopter shows, without sound, the numerous muzzle flashes from behind the tree, where several deputies are firing at the house before a cease fire call goes out. The girl has been hit. “I think the female is down,” one of the deputies says. The juvenile boy walks out, his hands up. The girl is on the ground but moving. “We’ve got to get a rescue up here, guys,” a deputy is heard saying. The deputies soon move into the house, secure the weapons and the girl, who’s heard wailing.
“What’s your name sweetie, come on, what’s your name sweetie?” The deputies have moved from dealing with an assailant to tending to a casualty. None of the deputies were injured.
The girl is Nicole Marie Jackson Maldonado. She is 14. She came to prominence in Palm Coast just last April, when she was arrested on a series of felony arson charges for setting several brush fires in her own B-Section neighborhood, when she was a student at Buddy Taylor Middle School and living in a group home on Burgundy Place. “This young lady needs a lot of help and since DJJ released her back into the same environment that allowed this behavior, I hope she does not do it again and instead gets the help she needs,” Sheriff Rick Staly said at the time–a comment that triggered a series of responses from apparent current or past residents of the group home. The comments were critical of the suggestion that the home and the girl’s behavior were to blame.
On Tuesday evening, the girl, usually referred to as Nicole Jackson, seemingly armed with a pistol and a shotgun–as deputies described the weaponry–and another minor armed with an AK-47, were in a stand-off with Volusia County Sheriff’s deputies at at 1050 Enterprise Osteen Road in Deltona, a house the pair had allegedly burglarized and from where they’d seized their weapons. The two children then started firing at the deputies, as a body cam video indicates, before the deputies themselves fired back, injuring the girl but not not the boy. The boy was 12.
The boy and Jackson had that day ran away from the Florida United Methodist’s Children’s Home, another group home, in Enterprise. They’d actually been swimming at Green Springs Park, according to Jackson’s arrest report. Deputies had been requested at the park at 6:17 p.m. because of the presence of eight to 10 juveniles swimming there. When the deputies arrived, Jackson smiled at a deputy and “took off on foot towards the bike paths,” with the 12 year old following closely behind her. The pair managed to elude the deputies. A little over an hour later, passers-by alerted authorities to glass breaking at the Enterprise Osteen Road house.
“As deputies approached the house, they saw signs of forced entry and observed two (2) figures in the home,” the arrest report states. “Deputies contacted the homeowner, who told them no one should be inside of the residence, and that there was a handgun, a shotgun and an AK-47 inside, along with a large amount of ammunition.”
The police narrative continues: “After deputies surrounded the home and began making announcements into the house, Jackson and [the boy] started shooting at them. Jackson subsequently fired a shot at a deputy out of a back patio door around 8:30 p.m. Over the course of approximately 30 minutes, both Jackson and [the boy] fired at deputies on multiple occasions. Jackson then exited the residence through the garage armed with a shotgun. Jackson subsequently pointed the shotgun at deputies and then fired the shotgun in their direction. As a result of her (Jackson’s) actions, deputies were forced to defend themselves by returning fire. Jackson sustained multiple gunshot wounds and deputies quickly acted to perform life saving measures. Also in the
garage with Jackson, and armed with an AK-47, was [the boy]. After Jackson was shot, and deputies were providing her first aid, [the boy] surrendered
without further incident. In the garage, deputies observed the AK-47 style rifle, a shotgun and a handgun.”
Jackson was initially taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital for further medical treatment. After undergoing surgery, she was reported to be in
stable condition and transferred to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando for further observation. The boy was taken to Advent Health Fish Memorial in Orange City for treatment of a medical condition. There, the boy described to a deputy how he’d ran away from the group home–not for the first time–and happened by the weaponry at what looked like a barn on the property before breaking glass to get into the house. It wasn’t long before, the boy told deputies, that he’d seen the house occupants drive off. At the time the boy was with other boys, and together they intentionally broke windows in the house. A detective asked the boy how many windows he broke. “Every last one of them,” he said.
The other boys ran off and only the 12-year-old boy and Jackson broke in. They found two shotguns, a handgun and an AK-47. By then they noticed the cops outside. That’s when Jackson said she would “roll this down like GTA.” She started firing. When the boy noticed “green dots” on him, he started firing, too–a double-barreled shotgun, then a pistol, knowingly firing at cops. “He said before he ran to the garage, he had grabbed an 63 AK-47 from the bedroom which was in a case. Also in the case were two loaded magazines for the AK-47.”
“Deputies did everything they could tonight to de-escalate, and they almost lost their lives to a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old,” Sheriff Chitwood said at the time of the incident. “If it wasn’t for their training and their supervision… Somebody would have ended up dead.”
“I don’t know where we get the men and women who respond to these incidents, who do what they do, and do it with bravery, do it with courage, and do it while trying to protect the sanctity of human life,” he said. “But they took rounds – multiple, multiple rounds – until they were left with no other choice but to return fire.”
Jackson and the boy are charged with attempted murder on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and armed burglary. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office handled close to 300 calls at the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home in 2020. Last month, a 14-year-old boy at the group home pleaded no contest to a charge of manslaughter in the death of a security officer he struck during an altercation in late March.
In midafternoon Thursday State Attorney R.J. Larizza’s office issued the following statement: “We are in the process of conducting a thorough and comprehensive review of the cases involving the 12 and 14-year-old individuals accused of shooting at police officers. Once we have completed our review, we will disclose and discuss our charging decisions in more detail.”
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Land of no turn signals says says
Children’s home should be held accountable.Of coarse many are going to blame everything from the guns to Trump and don’t forget the man in the moon.Never blame those fine yr youths.[ say it like my cousin Vinny] Lock them up until they can collect social security.
GetNewTalkingPoints says
Since you brought up the orange one, his minions do need to do something about guns since they’re collecting money hand over fist from pro-gun groups and standing in the way of actual progress. But you know gays, and women’s rights, are more of a threat to society as are people that vote but I digress.
If these kids were black, there would’ve been two funerals coming up and not an analysis of who do whom wrong and where fingers should point and assign blame. A black kid in the park playing with a toy gun, running away from a cop is shot in the back and murdered. An unarmed black kid walking home in a hoodie is killed because some white person thought he was…suspicious. Another black kid obeys an officer to drop his weapon and he’s killed. Two white kids are given every opportunity to drop their weapons and they live. A white man goes on a shooting spree at spas, lives to tell the tale. There’s more but you catch my drift.
No, I know exactly what’s going on here, a different set of rules for black people verses white. Mostly white people storm the Capitol building and they are released on bail/bond for vacations to Cancun or because jail is traumatic. The GQP wants to say it was
nothing more than a field trip ignoring that many of them were pissing their own pants in fear (at least those not in on the attempted coup). Black people marching peacefully (not talking about the prod boys, boogaloo rioters here) together are tear gassed, shot at, or killed by scared white people with guns, like 17-year-old murderer, Kyle Rittenhouse. There’s plenty of “blame” to go around, just not the kind you think.
MikeM says
Yep let’s make it about race. What a load of BS.
Kurt says
I would not necessarily believe the cops I would like to see the body cam footage On this one
JOE STOLFI says
STOP coddling children,
It’s NOT WORKING
try them as ADULTS ..
They CERTAINLY know RIGHT from WRONG
Kudos to the Deputies involved .. They have much more patience that I would have IF someone were shooting at me ..
We all know the Mental Health Services in ALL of AMERICA are LACKING ..
Perhaps IF THAT was FIXED incidents like this would be much less ?
Mary Fusco says
Joe, this is a 14 YO child. Her parents should have been seeking mental health care for her years ago. Maybe if her parents had been parenting, she would not have wound up in a facility. Stop beating a dead horse. You cannot help someone who does not acknowledge they have a problem and are not willing to accept the help. Doesn’t matter if you are 14 or 40!
Concerned Citizen says
Thank you for pointing that out.
We had a heated debate at work this morning about this. I have co workers who fault the Deputy for returning fire and hitting the girl. I’m sorry but that Deputy did what they had to do to protect their fellow Officers. Of course it’s hard to explain that to civilians who have never been in that environment.
I have said it before and will say it again.
The ONLY ONES responsible for this incident are the perps. The boy and the girl. They knew better. And did not care. They showed total disregard for human life the minute they fired the first round. Yes it’s sad but they made the choice.
Suzanna says
If these were your kids would you be saying the same thing?
The ones responsible for this is these childrens parents.
Doyle says
They need to teach respect all across the world for life. Kids learn from the elders! Keep it simple…
Steve says
Well looks like FCSO was right. No need to worry about those two their going away for quite awhile IMO
Columbo says
Why do I get the feeling there are one or more adults involved in all this? Someone showing off. Noticed the weaponry in a barn on the property? How do you “notice” something like that? Break into the house and in short order find all of the weapons and ammunition, which apparently were not locked up? They knew how to load them also?
No. Not buying it. There’s some prior relations going on here.
Concerned Citizen says
Just so we understand.
The only ones to blame are the two that broke in. We really need to get away from victim blaming. It’s very unbecoming. But seems easy for society to do.
They want us to lock our cars and houses. They want us to install cameras that they want to monitor. How much more do we need to secure our belongings?
Concerned Citizen says
Just so we get it right.
1.) The home owner was not at fault for owning weapoms. They were in his home. And these two criminals broke into HIS home. With the INTENTION of stealing and possibly hurting someone.
2.) At the age of 12 and 14 you certainly know wrong from right. And high on that list is breaking and entering. Then pointing weapons at Law Enforcement. SO at the end of this situation the ONLY ONES to blame are the 12 and 14 year old. Who made poor choices because they didn’t care.
3.) The Deputies are not at fault in anyway. Yes it’s sad that they had to return fire. But that decision was made when the girl decided to send rounds down range. And try to harm Law Enforcement Officers doing their job.
I can see all sorts of backlash coming from this. But at the end of the day lets remember who is responsible. The Boy and Girl who decided to break into someones home in order to deprive them of THEIR belongings.
I have been in tough spots myself. Having been in combat and then spending 6 years as a Deputy before moving over to Fire Rescue and retiring it’s not an easy job. Decisions have to be made in seconds. Those two perps had made their decision long before. She knowingly wanted to take a life. And answered for it heavily.
I hope she recovers and I hope they both end up being charged as adults and getting heavy sentences.
To the Deputies on scene. My hats off to you. That was a bad situation. And at the end of the day all of the LEOS on scene made it home to their families. I am sorry that deadly force had to be used. But sometimes it’s unavoidable. And if you need counseling afterwards there is no shame in it.
Roy Longo says
Let’s not forget what the deputies are now going through. They have to live with shooting a teenager.
John says
Are you the same person you were at 12 ?
People change –
No child should be thrown into an adult prison. These kids need help and rehabilitation.
Trailer Bob says
Makes me wonder what kind of parents these two had.
They are really just children.
A Concerned Observer says
“… They are only children! Ya didn’t have to shoot them!” What? Get real! These are two young repeat felonious psychopaths with little to no chance of being rehabilitated or ever becoming a productive member of a civilized society. So, was nature or nurture responsible for how the young criminals came to what they are now? Sorry, but at this point I care less about the reason than the results of the condition which exists now. For those out there that deny that violent video games promote like violent psychopathic behavior, the 12-year old boy told investigators when he saw the cops outside, the 14-year-old girl made a statement, “I’m going to roll this down like GTA. (for the Grand Theft Auto video game.” The boy, according to Sheriff Chittwood made violent remarks toward school administrators and a fellow student, threatening to “spread his guts all over the bleachers.” The two (plus possible others who left before the shooting began) destroyed the home, resulted in an estimated $100,000 in wanton violence and destruction. Who gets to pay for that?
We have become a land where every child received a trophy, weather they win or lose; where spanking is considered as child abuse; where someone, anyone, is always responsible for whatever they have become or what they have done. The public needs to be protected from them, FULL STOP. Touchy-feely faith based group homes have had no positive affect. The juvenile courts are unwilling to incarcerate repeat “youthful” offenders, with an proven escalating pattern of aggression and violence. I’m sure that at one time these two were babies loved by someone. It is apparent that they were never taught any respect of others. There were most assuredly no consequences for their escalating behavior.
I cannot say enough about the LEOs on scene that night who held back returning fire after the first incoming round was fired. Every one of them swore an oath to protect and serve their community. Every one of them wanted to go back home to their families after their shift and luckily they all made it home that night. I cannot blame Sheriff Chitwoods righteous indignation and frustration with the juvenile court system and the total lack of parental supervision evident in bringing up children from the earliest age. You need a license to drive a car. You need a license to carry a firearm. You need a license to fish. There is no license required to have children. Parental failure in their basic duties foist the responsibility of raising their offspring on others. Children must learn early on that here are be behavioral boundaries and laws and there are consequences for their actions. Life is tough. Respect for others seems to be no longer the norm. Once youngsters reach the tipping point as these two have done, the only sad but necessary recourse is to protect society from them.
Me says
When is someone going to listen to this young girls cry for help because the system as well as her parents have failed her. She needs help desperately and if the State of Florida isn’t capable of helping these young troubled children then let another state get them the help they need.
I often wondered about government programs and how often they actually check on these victims that are so in need of help. DCF how often do they actually check on children? Who is checking on them doing their jobs?
This young girl and boy need major professional counseling and it sure doesn’t sound like they are getting it. So, I am blaming the system they have been placed in not them because they are reaching out for help but no one is listening.
jane doh says
What a lot of crap – oh the young girl’s cry for help blah blah blah. They get all sorts of counseling when they are locked up. Don’t blame the system. Blame her no account parents who are also probably locked up. At 14 doing all that crap. Time to put a stop to her before she kills someone. Lock her up and keep her there.
A concerned Observer says
Dear Me says. I will listen to the little girl’s cry for help when she does cry out for help. This little girl had countless opportunities given to her and she chose to accept none of them. As soon as she picks up a gun and shoots at law enforce officers we have to start taking action to protect society and take control of her by whatever means necessary. In this case, returning gunfire a sad option but in this case it was totally appropriate. The events in this case should be made into a video game and given to all of the other young felons in training out there. Maybe then cause and effect of their antisocial behavior will sink in because they are not paying attention to parents, group homes or the Juvenal courts system.
Gudasgold says
Enough said!! So true!! For the comments that had something to say about the parents read the article again!! Group home are the parents!! Now days all kids do is play video games all day and night!! Bring out the board games or some kind of outdoor activity!! True enough they should be punished and held accountable but at the same time they need attention,guidance, and love!!! They have nothing!!
Heidi shipley says
I agree. If put in the right environment with the right people they could become good upstanding citizens. At their age they can still be helped. We assume they know right from wrong but you have to be taught that. Maybe they haven’t had parents to teach them. They are too young to just throw them away.
I think the officers did a great job and have a difficult job. So true that they have to live with the decision to fire back but they need to go home to their children too.
There needs to be more programs for children . More programs like boys and girls clubs YMCA that has trained counselors. Jail will do them no good.
Skibum says
Some kids are NOT simply misunderstood or in need of more hugs. Some are just evil to the core. The 14 year old boy from St. Johns County who is currently in jail on no bond and charged as an adult in the horrific murder of the 13 year old girl is one example. He allegedly told friends he wanted to kill someone just to see what it was like. He is accused of stabbing the girl 114 times. Rehabilitation for him? No way, lock him up and keep him out of society for the rest of his life. The 14 year old and 12 year old who tried to kill several Volusia sheriff’s deputies? Both have violent and/or threatening histories, and I thank God no deputies were shot when they confronted those two armed teens the other day. We need much stricter state laws to deal with juveniles who are charged with committing violent felonies, and the sorry state of our current juvenile “justice” system needs to be restructured to more appropriately deal with juveniles who either commit violent crimes or have a documented history of going through the revolving doors of the juvenile system time and again with no intent of changing their criminal behavior. You can only coddle these young thugs so long until one of them will kill an innocent victim. We need to do better to protect the innocent from criminals regardless of their age.
Honeyblue says
A friend texted me this story the other day. Now I know why the kids weren’t killed on sight, they’re not kids of color. They’re white kids, had they been Black or Latino/a, we’d be reading a very different outcome.
GR says
Your little cousin won’t get shot if he doesn’t engage in activity that draws the attention of police and if he does, complies with the officers requests. It’s that friggin simple.
useful says
with pistols, the police has a slim chance of hitting her for that distance. Black or White, the target was far away and in the dark.
Kathryn says
A lot of comments about these kids being “evil” or “inherently rotten” with absolutely no one asking how things even get to this point. A 14-year-old and a 12-year-old don’t just magically escalate to this level of behavior overnight. Very curious to know exactly what circumstances in and throughout their lives propelled them to act like this–something tells me the full story isn’t being told here. This is not normal.