Mother of Teen Shooting Victim Shot During Son’s Funeral in Cocoa

UPDATE: The initial investigation suggests the shot was an accidental discharge from a gun carried by a 16-year-old attending the service, according to FLORIDA TODAY’s news partner WKMG News 6, citing Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. BCSO said the bullet penetrated the 16-year-old’s leg and then struck Quasheda Pierce, the mother of the teen being buried, WKMG reported.

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Burial services for Sincere Pierce at Riverview Memorial Gardens ended abruptly Saturday afternoon when an unknown gunman fired a single shot and hit the deceased’s mother.

The gunfire came as guests were paying their last respects to the 18-year-old, one of two teens killed Nov. 13 by a Brevard County deputy in Cocoa. Funeral services for the other teen killed, 16-year-old Angelo Crooms, were held Nov. 21.

As the pastor finished his prayers and Pierce’s friends and loved ones were placing flowers on his casket, a loud popping sound could be heard.

The sound of a single gunshot was followed by stunned silence before Quasheda Pierce could be heard yelling that she’d been hit. Mourners were at first slow to react before realizing what had occurred and then began rushing to nearby cars and leaving the funeral quickly.

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The Nov. 13 shooting deaths of Pierce and Crooms had left their families and the public with many unanswered questions about why Brevard County Sheriff’s Office deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda fired multiple shots into the car when the teens didn’t pull over. {snip}

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Earlier, Sheriff Wayne Ivey released dash cam footage from the Nov. 13 shooting that showed the teens pulling into a driveway after being followed by two BCSO cars without lights. Crooms, who was driving, then backed out of the driveway and drove forward in the direction of a deputy, who, gun drawn, repeatedly shouted at the teen to stop the car. Ivey wrote in a Facebook post that the deputy “was then forced to fire his service weapon in an attempt to stop the deadly threat of the car from crashing into him.”

The teens’ families and lawyers contend the dashcam footage shows Crooms trying to evade the deputy — not hit him.

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