GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. – Ethan Pritchard, the Florida State University freshman football player who survived being shot in the back of the head earlier this year near Tallahassee, has filed a lawsuit against the apartment complexes where he says the shooting originated, court documents show.
Pritchard returned to Sanford on Sunday after spending weeks in recovery. He was hospitalized in critical condition on Aug. 31 after being shot while dropping off family members at a home in Havana, Florida, and he was in the hospital until being transferred to a rehabilitation center in October.
“Once I get my legs back working, it’s over with. (...) Y’all will definitely see me walking before next March,” Pritchard told News 6 over the weekend, adding the community’s support helped him survive. “I was always giving out happiness, love, and everything. It ain’t no surprise to me that I’m getting that back from my city.”
[MORE: FSU football player who was shot in head returns to hero’s welcome in Sanford]
Investigators described the shooting as a case of mistaken identity, with Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass stating Pritchard was “not doing anything wrong” when he was ambushed.
The following four people have since been arrested in connection to the shooting: Caron Miller, 18, of Havana, Florida; Germany Atkins, 23, of Havana, Florida; Jayden Bodison, 22, of Woodville, Florida; and Anthony Glenn, 16, of Havana, Florida.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 10 in Gadsden County, accuses Riverside Apartments and Havana Heights Apartments of negligence, such as by allegedly allowing one or more of the accused assailants to reside at their premises and failing to secure the immediate vicinity via terminating leases for observable, longstanding criminal activity.
At all material times, the Defendants had the ability to control the four (4) assailants as they were tenants, residents, visitors or trespassers on the respective premises and committed prior crimes on the respective premises and in the immediate vicinities thereto, such as the buying and selling of narcotics, and the commission of a prior shooting at HAVANA HEIGHTS and drug trafficking in and around RIVERSIDE.
Case No.: 25000777CAA (p. 8, line 36)
The lawsuit demands a jury trial and damages in excess of $50,000.
The legal team for Riverside Apartments provided News 6 with the following statement:
We are fully cooperating with law enforcement on their investigation. We have a firm policy not to comment on cases in active litigation.
Zachary J. Brewer, senior partner with Luks, Santaniello, Petrillo, Cohen & Peterfriend (excerpt)
Read the lawsuit in the media viewer below: