Miami, Fla. – A Florida mother left a courtroom stunned when she forgave and hugged her teenage daughter’s killer earlier this week.
WFOR reports that Martha Guzman-DeJesus’ 13-year-old daughter was killed when a 16-year-old boy was showing off a gun on a school bus. The weapon discharged and fatally wounded the girl two years ago.
Jordyn Howe said he was “sorry for her loss” and apologized for the shooting before hugging Guzman-DeJesus.
Howe, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a deadly weapon and two other charges, had been facing 22 months in prison for the shooting of Lourdes “Jina” Guzman-DeJesus.
“It is our hope that … he will join me in going from school to school; from child to child; from parent to parent; from teacher to teacher urging them to understand how dangerous guns are in the hands of children,” Guzman-DeJesus said in court.
As part of the plea deal that Guzman-DeJesus helped orchestrate, Howe will spend a year in juvenile detention and then spend time talking about the dangers of guns.
