A 17-year-old is facing attempted murder and five other felony charges after deputies say he opened fire toward a group of people outside a Brandon apartment complex, striking a bystander who had nothing to do with the confrontation. Hillsborough County deputies responded at 9:03 p.m. Wednesday to reports of gunfire in the 1200 block of Landon Preserve Circle and found a person shot in the arm, who was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, detectives identified Key'rion Sincere Austin as the shooter and determined he fired multiple gunshots toward a gathered group of people, with stray gunfire striking the bystander. As reported by the Tampa Free Press, that victim had no connection to either group involved in the confrontation. Deputies arrested Austin the day after the shooting.
Austin now faces aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, attempted second-degree murder with a firearm causing great bodily harm, possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony, improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon or firearm, discharge of a firearm in public or on residential property, and minor in possession of a firearm, per booking records shared by the sheriff's office.
Sheriff Says Age Is No Excuse
Sheriff Chad Chronister addressed the case directly, saying, “Age doesn't matter when you fire a gun into a group of people. What matters is that someone innocent got hurt. This teenager made a choice that could have cost someone their life. Our detectives worked diligently to identify the suspect and get him off our streets.” The sheriff's office says it remains committed to holding juvenile offenders accountable just as it would anyone else who endangers the community.
The shooting happened at Landon Preserve Apartments, a 230-unit affordable housing community for working families earning below 60% of the area median income, completed in July 2022 by developer The Vestcor Companies. Because the incident occurred in unincorporated Hillsborough County and did not result in a death, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Gunfire Response Investigations Team, or GRIT, a specialized unit the sheriff's office created in July 2021 to analyze ballistic evidence and track non-fatal violent crime alongside federal partners like the ATF.
What Comes Next for the Teen Suspect
One open question in the case is whether the State Attorney's Office for the 13th Judicial Circuit will use its discretionary authority under Florida Statute 985.557 to direct-file Austin's case into adult criminal court. That statute allows prosecutors to send 16- and 17-year-olds accused of felonies straight to adult court, and it accounts for the vast majority of juvenile transfers statewide, according to the Florida Senate. The circuit's State Attorney's Office operates a dedicated Gun Violence Unit and has reported that juvenile firearm arrests in Hillsborough County more than doubled over a recent five-year period, with State Attorney Suzy Lopez emphasizing accountability for young gun offenders.
If convicted, Austin's attempted second-degree murder charge could trigger Florida's 10-20-Life law under Florida Statute 775.087, which imposes a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life in prison for discharging a firearm during a felony that inflicts great bodily harm. It remains unresolved whether prosecutors will pursue direct filing in this case.
Part of a Wider Trend Among Florida Teens
The Brandon case adds to a stretch of local incidents involving armed teenagers. Hoodline previously reported that deputies arrested two teens near a mall in June after recovering an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun. That pattern lines up with statewide numbers: a study analyzing Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey data, published in Pediatrics in July 2025, found the share of Florida middle and high school students who admitted to carrying handguns rose 65% between 2002 and 2022, reaching 6%, as reported by FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Researchers behind that study observed the increase extending even to middle schoolers.
