JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 17-year-old was arrested on a felony charge just hours after he shot a pellet-type rifle at a Duval County school bus Friday afternoon, damaging a window and leaving one student with minor injuries, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.
Martinez Jennings is charged with shooting deadly missiles/objects into an occupied vehicle, police announced Friday night.
The injured student had a minor cut on her finger and did not need to be taken to a hospital, police said. Her parents have been notified. Police said it's unclear if she was injured directly by a projectile, or by glass.
The investigation revealed that a witness saw Jennings shoot a long gun -- a BB/pellet-type rifle -- at Bus No. 355, which was transporting 12 students from Wolfson High School, while it was traveling on Hiram Street about 2:50 p.m., according to JSO.
The bus, which is operated by First Student, stopped at Fairfax and West 13th streets a few blocks away.
“The bus driver did exactly what any bus driver should do, get the kids to safety,” JSO spokeswoman, officer Melissa Bujeda, said.
The witness led officers to the location where the shooting occurred, and that's where they spotted Jennings as he was walking out of a residence with the pellet gun, investigators said.
Police said Jennings was taken into custody and confessed to shooting the bus.
Jennings told detectives that he was bored and had been shooting squirrels, and was shooting rocks out of the pellet gun, JSO said.
Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti released a statement about the shooting:
"No student should be fearful when riding to and from school on our buses due to violence. We are relieved that nobody was seriously injured and will actively work with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to determine who was behind this incomprehensible act."
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said it did not appear that Friday's incident was targeted, unlike a Duval County school bus shooting in 2015 that was sparked by a dispute between the shooter, Edgar Robles, and a student on the bus. Two girls were wounded by gunfire in that shooting.
Robles pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
School bus surveillance video in the Robles shooting was key in the case, authorities said. Smith said all school buses have surveillance cameras, but his sources say not all of them function properly.
Jennings made his first appearance in court Saturday morning, where he was put under house arrest until his next court date set for Dec. 27.
News4Jax spoke with Jennings' mother after his court appearance, where she apologized for her son's alleged actions.
"I’m sorry that the accident happened, and everything," Jennings' mother said. "I don’t like what happened or how it happened.”
Parents reunited with children on bus
The students, who were moved to another school bus to be interviewed by police, were in good spirits and did not appear upset after the incident, Bujeda said.
Duval County School Board police officers brought snacks to the scene for the students as they were being interviewed for more than two hours. Parents were asked to pick up their children at R.V. Daniels Elementary School on West 15th Street.
Emiko Lawrence said her son, a 10th grader at Wolfson, called her about 3 p.m. to say his bus was going to be late because it had been shot at.
"I got nervous, because I didn't know the severity of it," Lawrence said. "He was saying nobody got hurt, but the police were everywhere, and they wouldn't let anybody off the bus, so I came up here to him."
Lawrence said she is frustrated that her son and the other students were in harm's way while riding their bus.
"We can't even send our kids to school in the morning on a school bus. We have to be scared every move they make, and it just doesn't make sense," Lawrence said. "You never, ever know when something is going to happen nowadays. You just don't know. There's just all kinds of stuff happening, and people just don't have any regard for life anymore."
Gina Rouse and her daughter came to pick up a family friend who was one of the students on the bus. Rouse said Friday's incident was a wake-up call to her and other parents.
"It’s not just about my daughter, but it’s about everybody’s child out here. It’s just very uncomfortable. It’s, like, where do you take them? Or do you pick them up? Or do you drive them? What is safe out here anymore? It’s becoming very fearful," Rouse said.
Even though no one she knew was hurt, Rouse said, she plans to make changes moving forward, as she no longer trusts school buses as a safe mode of transportation.
"What will I do next? I'll have to brainstorm on that. But whatever it is, it will be very positive. If I have to group them all together and take them to school, I'm willing to do that," Rouse said.
Northwest Jacksonville neighbors on edge after school bus targeted
Residents of a Northwest Jacksonville neighborhood were still on edge Friday evening after the school bus incident hours earlier.
It was a chaotic scene along Fairfax Street as loved ones like Harry Lewitch waited anxiously to find out what school bus was involved in the startling incident.
"It's simply stupid," Lewitch said. "Kids are coming home from school, getting off the bus, minding their own businesses, and a car pulls up and goes to spraying."
Lewitch, who has lived in the area for all his life, said he was thankful to learn his granddaughter was not on the bus involved.
"My grandchild, she could be, kind of, scared. She gets nervous like that," Lewitch said. "That bus could have flipped over and everyone could have been dead on the bus. I'm just fed up with it. Something needs to be done about it."
While many neighbors were concerned, 61-year-old Al Jacobs said he was not worried.
"This is nothing new in Jacksonville," Jacobs said. "It doesn't anger me because the simple fact of the matter is, if their parents take care of them and teach them the right way, and they abide by the law the right way, we wouldn't have this problem."
According to the JSO crime-mapping tool, more than 50 crimes had been reported within a half-mile radius of the scene since Oct. 1.