Skip to main content
Clear icon
45º

Police: Boy who shot 5-year-old sister found gun before

Mother's boyfriend in jail for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon

Serenity Allen was shot and killed Saturday at the Roosevelt Gardens Apartments.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The arrest affidavit charging Maurice Mobley in connection with the gun an 8-year-old boy used to fatally shoot his 5-year-old sister and wound 4-year-old neighbor Saturday shows the boy found the gun in a clothes basket in his mother's bedroom while the children were playing. 

The report goes on to say the boy's mother told police the gun belonged to Mobley, her boyfriend, and the 8-year-old had found the gun once before last week and Mobley took the gun from him.

Recommended Videos



The shooting happened in a unit of the Roosevelt Gardens Apartments while the mother was out shopping, leaving the children home alone.

Serenity, 5, died at the scene. The 4-year-old neighbor, Savon, was taken to UF Health Jacksonville and was recovering from the gunshot wound. Because of the children's ages, News4Jax is not naming the 8-year-old police said fired the shot or the last names of the children who were hit.

The two boys ran next door and told a neighbor that Serenity had been shot. Police said the 4-year-old lives in the same block of the apartment complex.

Mobley, 34, surrendered to police Sunday and was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He has numerous previous arrests, including charges of domestic violence, drug possession, and lewd and lascivious molestation -- a charge for which Mobley is a registered sexual predator.