Who is Adeem Berry? Florida teen arrested after gunning down mother and critically wounding her boyfriend
RIVERVIEW, FLORIDA: Adeem Berry, a 14-year-old Florida teen, has been arrested after killing his mother and injuring her boyfriend in a shooting in Riverview, Florida.
Berry was arrested on Saturday, September 14 after deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office responded to multiple reports of a shooting in Lynmoor Drive.
One neighbor allegedly told the dispatcher that a male had been shot multiple times while another said a boy was running through the streets “waving a firearm.”
Upon their arrival, the officers encountered Berry, who stood at a distance and repeatedly raised the gun to his head, threatening to shoot himself, according to Daily Mail.
Why did Adeem Berry try to kill himself?
In a bodycam footage, a deputy was seen telling Berry that he didn't want to shoot him as they stood with several parked cars between them.
"You don’t want to end it this way. You don’t want to end it this way, brother. I promise you," the officer is heard saying. Berry continued to point the gun at his head as the officer pleaded for him not to fire.
"Whatever happened today — it can be fixed," he said, adding, "Don't pull the trigger." At one point, Berry dropped his gun down but surprisingly picked it up immediately.
“My gun is out only because I don’t know what you’re going to do,” a deputy tells Berry. “When you get to over here my gun is going in my holster. I promise you.”
Then, the officer launched a 40mm launcher toward Berry. The bullet, described as a "less lethal round," reportedly struck him in the hand.
Finally, after several more minutes, Berry walked slowly toward the officers, laid down on the ground, and surrendered.
“The deputies who negotiated with this suspect for more than 16 minutes were calm, collected, and ultimately successful in convincing him to lower his weapon,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister.
“They used their remarkable intuition and expertise to determine this suspect was not looking to harm them, but was contemplating suicide,” he added.
Why did Adeem Berry kill his mother?
After Berry was taken into custody, the deputies discovered his mother sprawled on a driveway down the street. Despite medical attention, Tiffany Harris, 39, was pronounced dead at the scene.
During the de-escalation, other deputies rushed to rescue the mother's boyfriend, who ran to hide in a neighbor’s house after being shot five times.
Authorities later questioned Berry’s brother, who revealed that the teen and his mother had been fighting before several gunshots rang out. Fearing that he was next, the sibling fled the home.
Berry has been charged with a string of felonies, including murder in the second degree with a weapon, attempted murder in the first degree, premeditated firearm discharge, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Berry’s devastated grandmother later mourned Harris’ death, saying, "She was a light. Everybody loved her.” Theresa Harris told People that her loved ones talked about “how she allowed them to live with them, how she fed them."
She added that her daughter didn’t “have much, but with what she had, she did a lot.” Theresa continued by stating that people should be held accountable for keeping firearms in a place that makes them accessible to children.
"Little kids are getting a hold of guns. I know we can't change these gun laws but everybody needs to be held responsible for not keeping them in safe places," she added.