Todd Johnston, 27, had, some time earlier, returned home from the shooting range. Thursday evening after 8:30 p.m., he was at the kitchen table, at 12, Belvedere Lane in Palm Coast, cleaning his Glock 19 while talking to his girlfriend.
Johnston began the field stripping process, which requires the trigger to be pulled in order to remove the slide for cleaning. He assumed the weapon had been unloaded by the time he’d left the range. It wasn’t. The gun fired. Johnston’s mother, Jody Johnston, 53, was nearby. She was hit in the hip.
Todd’s father Karl was laying in his bedroom. He heard the shot. He came out into the kitchen, according to the sheriff’s report, and applied a rag on his wife’s wound. The round, the report states, appeared to have traveled through the hip and was lodged in the kitchen wall. Jody was alert and conscious when police arrived, and taken to Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach.
An investigation confirmed that the shooting was accidental.
That was Thursday evening.
That morning, Randy Jones, 16, of Hymon Circle in Bunnell, Frankie Turner, 17, of Knox Jones Road in Bunnell, and David Green Jr. 15, decided to skip school and go to Target. That done, they walked across Belle Terre Parkway, deciding to walk into Palm Coast’s E Section, along Eastwood Drive.
According to the sheriff’s office, Turner burglarized a vehicle–again, left unlocked, as in the case of the majority of Palm Coast burglaries–and allegedly stole a prescription pill bottle left there, and placed it in his backpack. The trip walked on three three blocks or so to the house at 88 Eastwood Drive, a single-family house with an American flag planted out front, a nicely kept yard–as with most yards in the neighborhood–and one of those ADT signs out front, signaling an alarm system inside.
None of it appears to have made a difference. The boys, according to police, found a bedroom window that had been cracked about a hand’s width (according to a neighbor, who was told of the matter by the targeted homeowner this morning). Turner and Jones entered the home, according to police, while Green stood watch outside. They took rolled coins and a personalized wooden box. That, too, went into the backpack.
The house was occupied. When one of the residents saw the boys in her parents’ bedroom, she shouted. The boys ran, jumping out of the window.
Neighbors reported seeing them running from the home. They were caught soon after.
Jones and Turner were charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling, Green was charged with being a principal to burglary of an occupied dwelling, and all three were charged with loitering or prowling. Jones was also charged with possession of cocaine after deputies found a plastic baggie of white powder in his pocket. Turner had an additional charge of unlawful possession of a prescription drug and petit theft.
All three were taken to the Division of Youth Services in Daytona Beach.
The burglary followed by a matter of hours the burglaries by two other teens on Brushwood Lane, of several vehicles, as the teens rode their bikes.
“On Thursday, five Flagler County teenagers were arrested in two separate incidents on felony charges stemming from home burglaries to vehicle burglaries. It is time for parents to take responsibility for their children,” Sheriff Don Fleming said. “Parents need to know where their children are and who they are with.”
dealingwithidiots1 says
One of the many reasons we moved down here from “up north” was to get away from this crap…..but it seems it has followed us..too bad……throw them all in jail and throw away the key!
angrywithpc says
these parents need to be involved in their kids lives and know where ur kids are, this crap is getting out of control. the parents need to be held responsible as well as the kids and let’s see if that makes a difference.
global3922 says
Parents are just as responsible of these evil grap. They must be fined & throw in prison. No excuses
Brody says
There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for not knowing there is a round in the chamber of your gun. I’m sorry to say, but some people are getting concealed weapons permit and they should not even own a gun. What would this idiot have done if he had killed his mother ? If I was his neighbor, I would be installing an extra wall on that side of the house. Again NO EXCUSE !
Justice for All says
Or if the gun had discharged at the range? The shooters observed there don’t practice gun safety, either.
bunnell boy says
i hope i am not at the range if this idiot comes back to shoot. This cat has no business owning a gun period. I would like to know which range he goes to, i sure as hell wont go there.
Abstract Thinking says
So building more and more prisons, locking up more Americans, that’s the answer?
dealingwithidiots1 says
The answer is not to build more prisons….the answer begins when kids are born and raised in a home with parents that take an active roll in their upbringing and teaching them the do’s and don’t ‘s about gun and gun safety…besides…why are there guns around to begin with? that is a big part of the problem
upsetwithitall says
These kids need to be removed from these homes. If they know in advance that is going to happen, they likely will not push it that far. The problem here is drugs. These kids are building habits faster than we can stop them. We are raising a generation of predators. Deal with it today or deal with it tomorrow. You WILL have to deal with each of them eventually.
And these parents should be charged with any and all court costs and be sentenced to some sort of community service for not parenting.
living in Palm Compton says
how do you know what type of home these kids came from it states they skiped school how many of you would know if your child skipped school.