A risk protection order has been filed against an 18-year-old who was arrested in January for having a gun.
The teen, Andrew Byrd, has admitted to building a different gun known as a ghost gun. That ghost gun was used by a 17-year-old girl who accidentally shot herself in the face.
The Byrd family is no stranger to law enforcement. “This family has a propensity to violence,” said WINK News Safety and Security Specialist Rich Kolko.
One of the teenagers arrested for the Harns Marsh Middle School shooting threat last year was 14-year-old, Phillip Byrd.
He is currently the subject of an active risk protection order, to which his mother, Carrie Tuller, is the respondent.
Tuller is a convicted felon, so she and her son Phillip cannot own a gun.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office now wants a risk protection order for 18-year-old Andrew Byrd.
Kolko said the sheriff’s office has a good reason for wanting the RPO. “Detectives priority here, make sure everybody’s safe in that home.”
Detectives say on July 18th, in the Byrd home, a 17-year-old girl accidentally shot herself in the face with a ghost gun that Andrew Byrd built.
“One of the problems with ghost guns is people are able to obtain these parts over the internet,” said Kolko.
They are untraceable and don’t have serial numbers.
WINK News tried to ask Tuller what happened that deadly night, but she didn’t want to talk.
The family of that 17-year-old girl confirmed with WINK News that their beloved Destiny Padilla was the girl killed by the ghost gun.
When Andrew Byrd was 17, state troopers arrested him for drugs and having a gun in his car.
“The thing they always say is the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior,” said Kolko.
Kolko said law enforcement lives by that phrase.
Byrd got probation, but LCSO claims that didn’t stop him from building ghost guns.
“One of the problems with ghost guns is people are able to obtain these parts over the internet, it’s difficult to prove the ages or background of those that are trying to gather these parts to put these guns together,” Kolko said.
According to the RPO petition, Andrew Byrd is out of jail and is facing a probation violation charge.