Four suspects have been arrested in connection to the shooting of Florida State University Freshman Football player Ethan Pritchard in Havana, Florida on Aug. 31st.
During a press conference Wednesday announcing the arrests, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Head Mark Glass said three men, Jayden Bodison, Caron Miller, and Germany Atkins, as well as one juvenile have been charged. Bodison, Miller, and the juvenile face three counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle, while Atkins has a probation violation charge.
Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young said Pritchard was celebrating FSU’s win against Alabama with his family when he was hit by a bullet while in the car.
“Ethan, along with his aunt, he was taking her back home, that was it. And of course, he was ambushed, I would say, by gunfire,” he said.
Young said officers believe the assailants mistook the car for a different one connected to a previous shooting a few days earlier.
“We believe that the same type car that that Ethan was driving was involved in that shooting. We don't know for a fact, but that's the reason why they were sort of, you know, sort of humming in on that particular vehicle,” he said.
Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said the arrests were a product of law enforcement banding together.
“So our message is, you do the crime, be sure that law enforcement this community is coming after you to make sure you pay for what you've done to folks in our community,” he said.
Pritchard remains in the hospital in critical condition.