Boy, 13, shot at Lauderdale Lakes

As a crowd gathered to watch a fight Tuesday at a Lauderdale Lakes apartment complex, a man fired a gun, missed his target and hit a 13-year-old boy, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

The gunfire happened around 3:40 p.m. in the parking lot of the Seawind Lakes apartments, at 4400 NW 36th St. The boy, who was wounded in his buttocks, tried to run away, but fell in the parking lot, an arrest report said.

His injury was not life threatening, and paramedics took him to Broward Health Medical Center, the sheriff ’s office said.

The gunman ran away. Earlier in the afternoon, two students at Lauderdale Lakes Middle School were involved in a fight that happened at a nearby park, and one was a relative of Jimmie Harrold Terry, prosecutor Eric Linder said during a bond court hearing Wednesday.

“It appears that it was Mr. Terry’s response was to go and start confronting family members of the other juvenile that was involved in the fight with his nephew,” Linder said. “And according to [the arrest report, he], brought a gun to the scene and opened fire at a scene where, by description, there were many people.”

After the gunfire, BSO’s SWAT team arrested Terry at a home in the 4400 block of NW 37th Street in the city.

Terry, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, told detectives he didn’t have a firearm and didn’t shoot, the report said. He also accused another one of the adults who were present of being armed and shooting multiple shots that were meant for him.

But witness statements didn’t back up Terry’s version of events and he was taken into custody, the arrest report said.

Terry is a full-time caretaker at home of two children with health challenges, according to court testimony.

Defense attorney Bill Gelin said of the accusations against Terry, “The problem is there were other adults there. So basically these kids are protecting the actual shooter. I think we’re in the middle of a situation where an innocent guy could be standing here.”

Gelin also tried to cast doubt on the police investigation.

“My understanding is they searched the house and they didn’t find any gun,” Gelin said. “There has been no residue testing on his hands that show that anything was discharged. [There was] no confession, certainly.”

Gelin told Broward County Judge Kim Theresa Mollica, “If you take it as the state is presenting it to you, it was an accident, for lack of a better term. I’m telling you he didn’t do it anyway.”

Linder, the prosecutor said, “This is not an accident. Mr. Terry intentionally fired the gun. He just happened to miss his intended target. … His actions pose a great danger to the community, a great danger to this victim.”

Terry’s criminal history includes violating a domestic violence injunction; resisting arrest with violence; three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and violating probation, Linder said.

Devon Edwards, Terry’s partner, said the couple recently adopted two children and that one has a respiratory disease requiring treatment that Terry administers while their second child has attention deficits.

“These are serious allegations,” Mollica said before setting a $15,000 bond and ordering Terry to not have guns, wear a GPS monitor and to stay at least 1,000 feet from the wounded boy.

Edwards asked for a lower bond, saying she had just spent $800 for medication for one of their children.

“Ma’am, there was a firearm that was discharged,” Mollica said. “Consider that a gift.”

Terry