PALATKA, Fla. – The Putnam County sheriff said the woman accused of holding two children at gunpoint and forcing them into her car should have handled the situation better.
According to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Baby Hamilton, 68, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a weapon and two counts of kidnapping of a minor in connection with the incident involving the two children, ages 11 and 12.
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Hamilton’s arrest came after a deputy responded to a home in reference to a possible kidnapping complaint and interviewed all of those involved, including the children.
According to the report, when the deputy arrived, he spoke to a woman who said her son was fishing at the pond behind their apartment complex. However, around 5:03 p.m., she said she got a call from her son and could hear a woman shouting about trespassing and fishing on private property.
She then said she tried talking to her son, but the call hung up.
Ten minutes later, her son, his cousin and Hamilton showed up at their apartment.
According to the mother, Hamilton told her the kids “were trespassing her property without permission and she was going to speak to the manager of the property.”
When Hamilton left, the child told his mother that Hamilton had pointed a small silver gun at them and forced them inside the car, according to the arrest report.
The deputy also spoke with the other child’s mother and corroborated what the other mother had told him as well, the arrest report says.
“The second-amendment gives us the right to bear arms and to protect ourselves,” Sheriff Gator DeLoach said. “It doesn’t however, give us the right to be careless and victimize children.”
According to the children, after Hamilton accused them of trespassing, she asked them who they were and where they lived. However, they told the deputy they lied about that information because they did not know who Hamilton was. Then Hamilton got upset because “she caught them lying and pulled out a handgun,” the arrest report says.
According to the report, Hamilton grabbed one of the kids by his shirt while holding the gun to force him into her car.
Both kids sat in the backseat while Hamilton drove with the gun on her lap. The children also said they asked Hamilton to let them go home by riding their bike and scooter, but she “refused to let them go.”
Once they arrived at the children’s apartment complex, one of the kids told the deputy that Hamilton put the handgun in the glove compartment.
As soon as they got out of the car, they ran home.
DeLoach said the situation was alarming.
“That’s armed kidnapping all day long on a child under 13,” DeLoach said.
After identifying and locating Hamilton, the deputy also interviewed her.
According to Hamilton, she was “worried about the kids drowning in the pond and was going to take them to police,” which is why she “told” them to get in the car.
“She mentioned how one kid got scared and wanted to run off but the other kid got him to go inside her vehicle. She drove the kids to the apartment complex and went back to her residence,” the deputy said in the report.
Investigators believe the boys didn’t realize they were on private property and likely didn’t understand what that meant. DeLoach said this incident could be a teaching moment for parents.
“We have a responsibility as parents to know where they are going and do our due diligence to make sure they are on a piece of property that isn’t private property,” DeLoach said.
The sheriff said homeowners have the right to keep trespassers off their property.
“There is a right way and a wrong way to do that,” DeLoach said. “If there are trespassers on the property, the best thing to do always is to call law enforcement and let us get involved and handle that so we don’t end up with some vigilante who thinks they are being a neighborhood constable.”
According to the arrest report, Hamilton changed her story about some of the incident details. She also told the deputy she owned a small gray handgun, “but only used it once to see if she knew how to use it.” However, that handgun matched the description the children gave the deputy.
Deputies conducted a search warrant at Hamilton’s home, and found a gray Walther P-22.22 caliber handgun, and a magazine loaded with eight bullets.
Hamilton was arrested and is being held in Putnam County jail without bond.
“She could have approached this much differently and rather than pull a handgun on them, perhaps offer them a Little Debbie’s cake treat or a soda and say, ‘we have to talk about this. Let’s go see your parents. She could have taken it a step further and said, ‘this is private property and I appreciate you want to fish. I’m glad you’re not tearing the property up. How about you help me keep clean and you’re welcome to come over here and fish anytime you want.’ What’s wrong with that approach?,” DeLoach said.