KAYLEN TORRES - 2 yo - Ocoee FL

Cousin charged in December accidental shooting of Ocoee tot

Mexican national charged as illegal alien in possession of firearm.

By Henry Pierson Curtis, Orlando Sentinel

Christian Galarza-Rodriguez
(Orange County Jail, Orange County Jail / December 26, 2011)


Kaylen Torres' family buried the 2-year-old Ocoee girl Thursday after her death on New Year's Eve from a gunshot wound.

The child's death was disclosed during a federal court hearing Friday for a
cousin, Luis Javier Farias-Mendoza, who admitted accidentally shooting
her the day after Christmas, according to an affidavit presented to U.S.
Magistrate Gregory J. Kelly.

The shooting drew widespread attention that increased after Torres' family disagreed with doctors at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, who determined she was brain dead without a chance of recovery.

The disagreement delayed the family's plans to donate her organs. It could not be learned Friday if
the organs were donated. Torres' family declined to comment further on the shooting last week.
The shooting happened about 3 p.m. Dec. 26 at the family's Jemima Avenue home.

Farias-Mendoza, 21, later told police he was putting away a pistol in his room when it fired accidentally, according to Ocoee police.

A .22-caliber bullet went through the wall and struck his cousin Kaylen in the head as she sat on a pillow in the room next door.

Farias-Mendoza took the child and her mother to an Ocoee hospital and admitted firing the shot when questioned by police.

He was not charged with the shooting, but was arrested later on charges of providing false identification to police.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico, Farias-Mendoza initially told police his name was Luis Farias but he was booked into the Orange County Jail under another alias, Christian Galarza-Rodriguez, records state. He remained held until Thursday morning on the misdemeanor charge of providing false identification when he was taken from jail to federal court in Orlando.

After his arrest last week, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized several sets of false papers, including a Florida ID card, a birth certificate issued in Puerto Rico as well as a Social Security card and a Shoot Straight gun-range membership card, according to courtroom discussions.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Bodnar Jr., the Orlando office's firearms specialist.

Farias-Mendoza told authorities he bought the pistol in Winter Garden for $150 a year ago.

He practiced shooting the gun at a Shoot Straight gun range as well as by firing it out the window of a moving car on either Interstate 4 or State Road 429, records show.

During Friday's hearing, Farias-Mendoza was ordered held without bail on charge of gun possession by an illegal alien, a crime carrying a minimum-mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison followed by three years of probation.

Farias-Mendoza likely will be returned to the Orange County Jail or transferred to the Seminole County Jail, according to courtroom discussions.

More state charges may be pending against Farias-Mendoza because the shooting remains under investigation by Ocoee police, according to the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner's Office. Criminal charges are rarely filed in accidental fatal shootings involving members of the same family.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/crime/os-kaylen-torres-dead-cousin-charged-20120106,0,4755330.story

And the Bonehead of the Week Award goes to...

Farias-Mendoza, 21, later told police he was putting away a pistol in
his room when it fired accidentally, according to Ocoee police.

A
.22-caliber bullet went through the wall and struck his cousin Kaylen
in the head as she sat on a pillow in the room next door.

Who in their bonehead mind puts a gun away without locking the safety?
Stupid ass!

Kaylen Torres

Man accused of accidentally shooting toddler pleads in federal court

February 13, 2012
By Amy Pavuk, Orlando Sentinel

An Ocoee man accused of fatally shooting his 2-year-old cousin the day after Christmas pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to a weapons violation and a count of lying to a federal agency, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Luis Javier Farias-Mendoza admitted to accidentally shooting Kaylen Torres in the head inside the family's Jemima Avenue home, police said earlier.

Farias-Mendoza told police he was putting away a pistol in his room when it fired accidentally. A bullet went through the wall and struck Kaylen as she sat on a pillow in the room next door.

Farias-Mendoza, a Mexican citizen, is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law. Authorities also learned that he made false statements to officials.

Farias-Mendoza faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. His sentencing date has not been scheduled.

He will be deported following prison.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-02-13/news/os-toddler-shot-cousin-pleads-20120213_1_shooting-toddler-federal-court-federal-agency