Documents: Fla. girl, 15, who shot brother, 16, suffered abuse

WHITE SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — After suffering years of abuse at home, a 15-year-old girl broke into her parents' locked room through a window, took their gun while they were away and shot her 16-year-old brother to death, authorities said.

On Wednesday, authorities released police documents and interviews describing the abuse, including that the girl was locked in a room for weeks at a time with only a blanket and a bucket to use the bathroom.

The shooting at a small white house off a dirt road in rural north Florida happened Monday while the children's parents were away for work. The father, a truck driver, and his wife, who often went with him, left the 16-year-old boy to watch over the 15-year-old, her 11-year-old sister and their 3-year-old sister, police said. The parents left Sunday and were due back Tuesday.

Sometime Monday, the 15-year-old girl was locked in her room by her brother, police said. After the boy fell asleep, she talked her 11-year-old sister into unlocking her door.

The older girl knew her parents kept a pistol in their room, but they had locked their door. So the girl went outside and used a knife to remove an air conditioner from her parents' bedroom window. She climbed in while her 11-year-old sister kept watch and grabbed the gun out of a pink bag and loaded it, police said.

The girl went back inside the house, telling her young sisters to get in the closet, she told police. She turned her head and fired at her sleeping brother in the living room, and he screamed "Help! Help!"

She buried her head in a pillow for a while and upon returning to the living room, the girl found her 3-year-old sister trying to wake her dead brother, according to the police report.