Florida man who fatally shot 15-year-old boy looking for phone won’t be charged: cops

A man who fatally shot a teen searching for his phone in a gated Florida community will not be criminally charged, according to authorities.

The shooter, who is in his mid-20s, fatally gunned down the high-school freshman — identified by family as 15-year-old Heitor Amaral — in a Tampa apartment complex Sept. 20, said the Tampa Police Department and Tampa Bay Times.Heitor Amaral was shot and killed while searching for his phone in a Tampa, Florida, apartment complex Sept. 20. Gofundme

Investigators have concluded that they will not be able to charge the unidentified gun-wielding resident based on a “comprehensive review of the evidence,” police announced Thursday.

[snip]

The unidentified resident put on a mask and armed himself to scare off the teens, and as two of them fled, a “physical altercation” broke out between Amaral and the resident.

The gun-wielding man told investigators that Amaral placed him in a headlock — spurring him to discharge a single round at the boy in fear for his life.

Amaral was critically injured by the gunshot and died of his injuries at the scene.An entrance to the Tampa Bay apartment complex where the shooting took place. Google MapsThe teen had just started high school, his mourning family said. Gofundme

[snip]

Yessenia Gonzalez, whose son Julio, 16, was with Amaral on the boys’ crusade to find the missing phone, claimed that there was no physical altercation before the shooting and that the group was all running before the resident opened fire.

“I want the truth out there,” Gonzalez told the outlet. “There was no fighting. These kids had no weapons.The boy was the youngest of three children, always did his chores, loved playing video games and enjoyed riding an electric bike his father gave him, shattered kin said. Gofundme

[snip]

“He was such a good kid,” Maysa Amaral said. “He absolutely did not deserve what happened to him.”

A GoFundMe she started for Amaral’s funeral costs and funds for his family to hire a lawyer has raised more than $6,000 of its $10,000 goal.

“I want people to know that my brother was a loving and caring kid who had so much more life ahead of him, and now he is resting,” the fundraiser said.

(*) Full article: https://nypost.com/2026/10/04/us-news/florida-man-who-fatally-shot-15-year-old-boy-looking-for-phone-wont-be-charged-cops/