A teenager who accidentally shot his friend in the back in Deltona has been arrested on multiple felony charges.
Jeremie Cuevas, 17, was arrested by Volusia County Sheriff’s Office deputies this weekend in connection with the shooting, which took place on Saturday, Sept. 30.
According to VCSO, deputies responded to reports of a shooting at around 6:15 p.m. A deputy on his way to the scene near Three Island Nature Park was flagged down by a driver and a passenger in a car on Howland Boulevard, near Candler Drive.
The two individuals were yelling for help and told the deputy that a passenger in their vehicle had been shot in the back.
Deputies provided first aid and applied a chest seal to the victim’s back before an ambulance arrived and transported the victim to a hospital.
During their investigation, authorities determined that the victim and three of his friends, including Cuevas, were sitting in a car at the nature park.
According to witnesses, Cuevas, who was sitting in the right rear passenger seat, got a gun out of his pocket and accidentally fired a shot through the front passenger seat and into the victim’s back.
Cuevas and another passenger in the vehicle ran away from the shooting.
Cuevas was eventually found in Orange City and brought in for questioning.
During an interview with police, Cuevas allegedly was “adamant” that the shooting was an accident and that the gun went. off when he was trying to take his cell phone out of the same pocket, according to VCSO. According to detectives, Cuevas said he discarded the gun after running from the vehicle.
The gun was not immediately located by authorities.
Cuevas was taken to the Volusia Family Resource Center for processing and then transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice where he remains in custody.
According to authorities, the victim was last listed in critical, but stable, condition at the hospital this weekend.