Authorities have arrested an 18-year-old man and charged him with 45 felonies after he was accused of shooting at two school buses.
Phillip Gerard Smith II of Kissimmee was arrested at 5:31 Wednesday morning for an incident that happened 5 days ago. Smith was charged with 42 counts of Aggravated Assault with Deadly Weapon without Intent to Kill. He was also charged with 3 counts of Shooting into an Occupied Vehicle.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested Smith after they received a tip. The tip lead detectives to Warner University where Smith attended school on a basketball scholarship. When they arrived, they saw his car parked outside his dorm. Authorities said his car, a Lexus, was the same one captured on the bus surveillance video on Friday, when the incident happened. According to deputies, they found a BB gun and pellets inside the Lexus.
"He needs to be punished as well as if it was me, a grown man shooting at a kid, because it very seriously (could) have injured not only my child, (but) several of the kids," Dave Burns said.
Dave Burns said his daughter Jade, 8, was on one of the school buses.
"They could have shot at my vehicle with me in it, not a bunch of children," Dave Burns said.
According to authorities, they said Smith told them he was on his way home that day, when he checked to see if his BB gun worked.
"I hate it happened because she's got to deal with it in her mind," Dave Burns said.
Jade Burns said she was two rows away from the window that shattered.
"I just jumped to another seat and that's why I got scared and I just wanted my mommy," Jade Burns said.
Jade Burns said the situation made her scared.
"It just scares me it's going to happen again," Jade Burns said.
The president of Warner University, Dr. Gregory Hall, said Smith was dismissed from the university. Hall said Smith could be reinstated, if he is found innocent.
