A Wichita, Kansas mother is charged with fatally shooting her 16-year-old son at his brother’s apartment.
Wichita police found 16-year-old Robert Florence “with a single gunshot wound,” inside the the East Harry Street apartment on October 9.
Robert’s mother, Tesha Florence, allegedly called 911 Wednesday morning to report that she had shot her son, according to police.
Robert was rushed to the hospital in “extremely critical condition” where the teen succumbed to his injuries on Friday morning, Oct. 11, according to a statement.
Florence, 46, was booked into Sedgwick County Jail and charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated battery. She was later charged with first-degree murder and is being held on a $1 million surety bond.
“This is a tragic incident that has forever altered a family,” Chief Joe Sullivan said in a statement. “Gun violence affects our entire community and cannot be tolerated.”
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The family had financial problems for years, according to Robert’s older brother, Kurtis Florence. Kurtis said Robert, another brother, and their mother lived with him in his apartment.
He says their mother – who previously worked as a certified nursing assistant and raised her sons as a single mother – had struggled financially in the last few years and eventually took an overnight factory job for $10 an hour.
With just one car between them, the 20-year-old regularly drove his girlfriend to work, then took his brothers to school before dropping off his mother at the factory and going to his own job.
Robert (pictured) was often late for school, which affected his grades. As a result, the junior varsity basketball player did not make the team this year.
On the morning of the shooting, Kurtis says that Robert stayed home from school because he did not have any clean clothes to wear.
After dropping off their other brother, Kurtis says he returned home to see police and emergency medical responders at his apartment.
“My mom wasn’t the type to go off the rail,” Kurtis tells PEOPLE. “I’m convinced that it was an accident and that [the shooting] wasn’t intentional.”
But police say detectives learned that Robert’s mother had allegedly threatened her ex-husband and his current girlfriend with a gun earlier this year.
Kurtis said he had no knowledge of that incident.
On Tuesday afternoon Kurtis told PEOPLE that he is looking for a lawyer to defend his mother.
“My mom raised smart, strong Black men. She let us know who we are. I’ve always tried to be strong for my mom.”
After the shooting, Kurtis and his brother were evicted from their apartment. They are living out of a hotel room until they can find another place.
Kurtis set up a GoFundMe page to help pay his brother’s funeral expenses.
“We are devastated by this loss and are trying to navigate life without him,” Kurtis wrote in the post.
