Dad shoots his 13-year-old and 16-year-old sons defending brother, FL cops say

A dad found his three teen sons walking to the pool, then he pistol-whipped one and shot the other two who rushed over to help their brother, Florida authorities said.

McClatchy News is not identifying the 36-year-old father to protect his sons’ identities.

The sons, ages 13, 16 and 17, said they had been trying to avoid their father on May 18 because he was “causing issues” at home, deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office wrote in an affidavit.

The brothers were walking to a local pool in Ruskin when their dad was seen on surveillance footage pulling up in a car and confronting them, deputies said.

The dad got out his black and pink semi-automatic pistol and hit his older son in the face, causing the gun to go off and graze the boy’s ear and jaw, according to investigators.

The other two boys were seen on camera running toward their dad as he got back in his car, and he fired at them, hitting the 13-year-old in his hand and thigh and the 16-year-old in his thigh, deputies said.

First responders said they took the three teens to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

As detectives were interviewing the 16-year-old, the father called and was recorded saying, “I tried to take your life” and “You won’t make it to Wednesday,” according to the affidavit.

The sheriff’s office said the incident stemmed from a “dispute over a vehicle.”

The dad is charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of aggravated battery, possession of a firearm as a felon and discharging a firearm in public or on a residential property, Hillsborough County records show.

Hillsborough County includes the Tampa Bay area.

This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Dad shoots his 13-year-old and 16-year-old sons defending brother, FL cops say."