Background: A memorial for shooting victim Griffin Smith in Ocala, Fla. (WCJB). Inset: Griffin Smith (Marion County Sheriff’s Office).
A 14-year-old teenager from Florida has been accused of second-degree murder one year after allegedly shooting and killing another teenager who was attempting to purchase a firearm from him.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office revealed the arrest of the adolescent in a Facebook post on Dec. 4. The boy’s identity has been withheld due to his minor status. The incident in question took place on Dec. 2, 2023, where 19-year-old Griffin Smith was discovered with a gunshot wound inside his white pickup truck, which had crashed close to a community center in Ocala, Florida. Despite being rushed to the hospital, Smith succumbed to his injuries.
Reports indicate that Smith had arranged to meet with the 13-year-old suspect earlier that day to finalize the purchase of a gun. However, the transaction took a tragic turn, leading the younger teenager to allegedly open fire on Smith’s vehicle as he attempted to flee. Following the incident, the firearm that Smith had intended to buy was recovered from inside the vehicle. It remains unclear whether the gun found in the car was the same weapon used in the fatal shooting.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office stated in its post that the suspect was arrested by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 13, 2023, but fled in a stolen vehicle with a firearm.
When he was charged with Smith’s alleged murder, the suspect was already in custody at Marion County Regional Juvenile Detention Center for violating probation on separate charges. Police had attempted to interview him about the Smith shooting in November, but he refused to cooperate. They stated that detectives were able to get a warrant to arrest the suspect after gathering DNA evidence and witness statements that “confirmed” the suspect had committed the alleged crime.
Detectives also reportedly followed bank records and Smith’s social media accounts to bolster their case.
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In an interview with WCJB, a local CBS affiliate, Marion County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Zach Moore said that while the juvenile refused to talk to police, he apparently bragged about the alleged crime to others. He told WCJB, “Making multiple contacts with different folks who either witness accounts or they had heard a story from someone even from allegedly [the suspect] himself who had been boasting about this interaction of him shooting Smith after they had met up to buy and sell a gun.”
