‘Do you just want to die?’: Wichita mother gives details of her son’s fatal shooting

A Wichita woman who fatally shot her 16-year-old son in the forehead said she pulled back the slide of the gun and pointed it at him to scare him after he continued “pushing her buttons” but she didn’t intend to kill him, according to new details released this week in a court document.

Tesha L. Florence said the gun just “went off” but, when further questioned by a detective, she said she may have discharged the gun to scare him, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit released in the case.

EMS took Robert C. Florence to Wesley Medical Center in critical condition after he was shot on the morning of Oct. 9. He was pronounced deceased two days later.

Tesha Florence called 911 at 8:11 a.m., saying that she had shot her son in the forehead, the court document says. It happened where she lives at Claremont Apartment, 9100 E. Harry.

The 46-year-old has been charged with second-degree murder in that case, and charged with aggravated assault and aggravated burglary in a March 20 case where she allegedly picked up her son from his father’s house and pointed a gun at her ex-husband and his girlfriend, the court document says.

Here is what else the documents says about her charges:

March 20: Florence told a detective that she went to pick up her son and thought he and his father were in an argument. When she arrived, the father’s girlfriend tried to keep Florence from coming in the back screen door, but she was able to force it open and pointed a gun at the girlfriend’s head, according to court documents.

Florence told the girlfriend to get out of the house, which she did. Her ex-husband then approached her and she pointed the gun at him and told him to go outside, too, which he also did.

She helped her son pack his belongings and the two left.

Florence later told her ex-husband that ‘you should’ve died that night,’” according to his recollection to the detective.

She “admitted that she was tired of people not listening to her, but when she pointed the handgun at them, they would listen,” the detective wrote in a report contained in the court file.

Robert Florence’s 18-year-old brother, who is also Tesha Florence’s son, told police that his mother kept a gun in her purse for several years.

Oct. 9:

Florence told a detective that Robert was a ‘bad kid’’ who was into drugs and didn’t want to go to school.

He said he was going downstairs to get some weed, she told the detective.

She let Robert use her phone to call his brother, she told the detective.

“After the phone call, (Robert) continued to antagonize (Florence) by pulling down the curtains and tearing up bits of paper and throwing them on the floor. (She) admitted she was very frustrated with (Robert)” and described him as ‘pushing her buttons.’”

She was laying on her mattress in the living area; he was on an ottoman at her feet while she texted. That’s when he reached into her backpack and pulled out her Ruger 9 mm handgun, the detective said.

He “made no threats with the gun and did not point” it at her, the detective wrote based on her statements. She then “lunged forward and grabbed the handgun.”

She told the detective she “racked the slide back.’” She pointed it at her son, saying ‘do you just want to die?’” she told the detective.

Then the gun just ‘went off’” and her son fell to the floor.

Tesha Florence said she thought the handgun was empty since she removed the rounds weeks ago, but “she possibly placed two live rounds into the handgun” a couple weeks prior before walking home from work.

She said she knew how the gun operated and owned it for roughly seven years.

When police arrived, she had blood on her hands and on her T-Shirt. She “fell to the ground and rolled around in distress,” the detective wrote.

She was placed in handcuffs. Officer picked her up and took her to a police vehicle when she said, ‘I shot my baby.”’

An officer found the handgun on a dresser. It had a live round in the chamber and two in the magazine. He secured the evidence.

Robert Florence was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery. A brain viability test was done on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11. Neither showed any brain activity. A doctor pronounced him dead at 8:47 a.m. on Oct. 11.

His former teachers and coach said Robert was a gifted artist and a jokester. A GoFundMe set up to help pay for funeral costs has raised more than $22,000. It can be found at shorturl.at/UOp6t.

Tesha L. Florence is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail with a bond set at $1.2 million.

This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 4:46 PM.