{"id":315038,"date":"2026-06-21T20:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T20:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/315038\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T20:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T20:56:08","slug":"armed-teens-spark-chaos-at-florida-mall-ditch-rifles-during-frantic-chase-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/315038\/","title":{"rendered":"Armed teens spark chaos at Florida mall, ditch rifles during frantic chase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A chaotic scene unfolded at a Tampa-area shopping mall when two armed teenagers allegedly threatened a person before leading deputies on a foot chase through stores and nearby areas.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff Office, the incident happened around 3:43 p.m. on June 18 at Brandon Mall, where deputies responded to a disturbance involving suspects believed to be armed.<\/p>\n<p>See Also: After <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/after-sloth-world-deaths-top-50-new-exotic-animal-attraction-planned-in-south-florida-sloth-world-orlando-sloth-deaths-exotic-animal-industry-florida-wildlife-regulation-margate-wildlife-adventures-larry-wallach-exotic-animal-exhibitor-sloth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8216;Sloth World&#8217; deaths top 50, new exotic animal attraction planned in South Florida<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Investigators say the situation quickly escalated when the two juveniles ran from deputies, weaving through a store and into surrounding areas in an attempt to get away. During the chase, authorities say the teens ditched a backpack carrying a loaded AR-15-style rifle, and later tossed a handgun in a separate attempt to avoid being caught.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies ultimately took both suspects into custody without anyone getting hurt.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities identified the teens as 16-year-old Dae Shaun Rah Kel Williams and 15-year-old Dontavias Tavares Stewart Jr. <\/p>\n<p>Officials say the pair had threatened a victim and implied they were armed, leaving the person in fear for their safety. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cArmed juveniles threatening the public will face serious consequences,\u201d said Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister. \u201cWe will not tolerate violent crime in our community, regardless of the offender\u2019s age.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Williams is now facing the following charges:<\/p>\n<p>violating probationresisting an officer multiple firearm-related offenses. <\/p>\n<p>Stewart&#8217;s charges are as followed:<\/p>\n<p>aggravated assault with a deadly weaponresisting an officer firearm violations. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities say both weapons were recovered, and the investigation remains ongoing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A chaotic scene unfolded at a Tampa-area shopping mall when two armed teenagers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-315038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}