Mother Of Slain Florida Teen Shot At Her Son’s Funeral Service

The mother of a Florida teenager who was killed in a deputy-involved shooting earlier this month was shot while attending her son’s funeral.

The funeral service for Sincere Pierce and the other teen that was killed alongside him Angelo Crooms, 16, was being held on Nov. 21 at Riverview Memorial Gardens when someone fired a single shot into the crowd, hitting Sincere’s mother Quasheda Pierce, Florida Today reported.

The shot was fired when the pastor had just finished his prayers and the guests were placing flowers on Price’s casket. Stunned silence befell the place after the gunshot rang out, with Quasheda yelling she had been hit, according to the publication. Guests began to scramble toward their cars to leave the place quickly.

A crowd of around 50 panicked guests left the place while the close friends and family members of Quasheda tended to her injury. She was helped to a nearby minivan until emergency responders arrived.

WFTV reported, citing the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, that Quasheda and another unidentified male received non-life-threatening injuries from the gunshot. The male, 16, was said to be the owner of the gun from which the shot was fired. Deputies said the teen "experienced an accidental discharge from a firearm concealed on his person during the funeral service."

According to WFTV, the 16-year-old was hit in the leg after his gun was discharged and the bullet then flew toward Quasheda, striking her in the leg. Deputies cordoned off the crime scene and an investigation was being carried out.

Sincere and Crooms were killed on Nov. 13 in Cocoa. Deputies from the Brevard County Sheriff’s department were responding to an earlier incident near U.S. 1 and State Road 528 when officers tried to contact the teens aboard a vehicle thinking it might have been stolen. When the teens didn’t pull over, a deputy, Jafet Santiago-Miranda, fired multiple shots into the car resulting in their deaths. Natalie Jackson, a lawyer who jointly represented the families of the slain teens, claimed the teens had permission to use the car and called the shooting the case of mistaken identity, according to Florida Today.