Gunfire interrupted the burial service for a Florida teenager fatally shot by a Brevard County sheriff’s deputy this month, injuring the teen’s mother.
Quasheda Pierce, 39, was hit in the leg Saturday by a single gunshot from the “accidental discharge” of a concealed weapon, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said.
The incident happened during the service for her son, Sincere Pierce, 18, one of the two Black teens fatally shot by a Brevard County deputy during an attempted traffic stop on Nov. 13.
“Initial reports were that a male and female received non-life-threatening injuries when shot during a funeral service,” sheriff’s spokesperson Tod Goodyear said in a statement.
The unidentified 16-year-old boy suspected of having accidentally fired the shot is not cooperating with law enforcement, the officials said.
Friends and family were gathered Saturday at Riverview Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Cocoa, 45 miles east of Orlando, to pay their final respects to Sincere Pierce.
Pierce’s injury was non-life-threatening, Goodyear said.
The 16-year-old was injured, as well. “The round penetrated and exited his leg prior to impacting Quasheda Pierce’s leg,” Goodyear said.
