TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The opening statement is expected to begin Monday at trial for a father accused of shooting two children and killing one.
Jermaine Lavanda Bass is accused of shooting two young children in the head after her mother pushed into the bed, killing one and seriously injured the other.
Hillsboro County Sheriff Chad Cronister said deputies responded to the house and found the boy hugged in his arms. He told them that the gun had disappeared, and he accidentally shot his son.
Investigators said Bass said his 5-year-old daughter was sleeping upstairs. When deputies went to her bedroom, they found a little girl shooting multiple times.
“You don’t accidentally shoot a child three or four times in your head,” Sheriff Chad Cronister said.
The 8-year-old boy recovered after undergoing major surgery, but the 5-year-old girl did not survive.
Bass faces accusations of first-degree planned murder with a firearm, first-degree planned murder with a firearm, and aggravated child abuse.
The opening statement is scheduled to begin on Monday, February 24th.
