2 teen charged in gunfight outside Pine Hills gas station

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - It was a wild scene on Tuesday afternoon outside a Citgo station on Pine Hills Road, after police said a gunfight broke out between some young people during which at least 14 shots were fired.  One bystander was struck by a bullet, and now, two teenagers are charged in the shooting incident. 

Orange County Sheriffs Office spokesperson Jane Watrel said the initial disagreement that led to all of this started at Evans High School.  “Detectives have pieced together what happened.  There was some sort of altercation involving Evans High School students, but they’re not the ones that are involved in the gun play. Relatives of those students carried this altercation outside.  They’re not students that did this,” said Watrel.

One of the suspects, Lojuan Sessions, 18, made his first appearance before a judge on Thursday.  He is now being held without bond after investigators said he shot the bystander in the stomach.   

Surveillance video captured at the Citgo station and released by law enforcement appears to corroborate accounts of what happened, Watrel said.  According to the arrest affidavit, the victim, who is a youth coach, was standing outside of his white work pick-up truck talking to some teens asking why they weren’t in school, when deputies say Sessions started running towards where the victim and others were standing.  Deputies said sessions started yelling, then shooting.

Deputies said the other suspect, Donta Swilley, 18, was standing with his mother and the coach and pulled out his own gun and returned fire.  He is now charged with carrying a concealed firearm and discharging a firearm in public. 

“This was a petty argument that somehow these people thought guns would be the answer,” said Watrel.
Deputies are thankful the victim is recovering and the suspects have been arrested.  “It could have been much worse. There were about 200 people around between the parking lot, Winn Dixie, and the high school students that were being let out,” said Watrel.

The bystander, who was shot in the stomach, is recovering at home.