Travis O’Brien the 'baby-faced shooter' sent to juvie for SHOOTOUT with cops when he was 12!
The 13-year-old runaway who with his then-14-year-old female friend got into a shootout with deputies in Florida last year pleaded no contest on Wednesday and is now sentenced to a juvenile facility. Travis O’Brien was just 12 when he, along with Nicole Jackson, holed up in a Volusia County house in June 2021 after breaking out of a local group home. The duo then opened fire on cops with a shotgun and an AK-47, WESH-TV reported.
“He’s a little tiny, little boy and he got into a big mess. He wasn’t in control of his situation and he can’t understand some of the things that we understand.” defense attorney Jeff Deen told the station Wednesday. O’Brien has pleaded no contest to the charges of burglary, criminal mischief, and attempted murder of law enforcement officers. He was remanded to a maximum-risk assessment program before his conditional release.
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The pair busted out of the United Methodist Children’s Home in Florida and broke into an empty house in nearby Enterprise on June 1 last year. Sheriff’s deputies arrived after reports of a break-in and found themselves in a shootout situation. They were held at bay by the teens for more than 35 minutes.
In the viral bodycam footage of the shootout, one deputy is heard shouting “They’re shooting on me. Hold the air. I’m code 4. She’s re-racking a round inside the shotgun!”. In response, the dispatcher is heard saying “Let’s not engage them anymore. Let’s not challenge them.”
In the video, Jackson emerged from the garage and pointed her shotgun at the deputies more than once. Later, Travis admitted to the investigators that Nicole had said, "I'm gonna roll this down like GTA," before launching the attack. She was shot and injured by a deputy who wanted to restrain her. She was in critical but stable condition after the shootout.
Jackson is heard crying on the footage after getting hit with return fire, after which both runaways were taken into custody. O’Brien’s sentence cannot exceed his 21st birthday, the outlet reported while the case against Jackson, now 15, is still pending, WESH-TV reported. Last year, a local couple also offered to adopt Jackson.