Two years after her 13-year-old daughter was shot and killed inside a school bus, a Florida mother faced her child's killer in court this week and did something so profound, it stunned everyone gathered: she approached the young man, and hugged him.
“In 20 years, I’ve watched human tragedy unfold in this courtroom,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzer said, per the Miami Herald. “I could have never imagined a victim’s mother embracing her child’s killer.”
The teenager responsible for the girl's death, 16-year-old Jordyn Howe, is said to have been overcome with emotion as his victim's mother held him in her arms. “I’m sorry,” Howe is quoted as telling the woman, while fighting back tears.
In Nov. 2012, Howe accidentally shot 13-year-old Lourdes "Jina" Guzman-DeJesus while they were both riding on a South Miami-Dade school bus. According to the Associated Press, Howe had taken his stepfather's pistol and brought it to school. He had reportedly been showing it off to his friends when the weapon discharged, shooting Lourdes in the neck.
She later died at the hospital.
Howe pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a minor and carrying a concealed weapon.
In an incredible gesture of forgiveness and selflessness, Lourdes' mother, Ady Guzman-DeJesus, agreed to a plea deal for Howe which will allow him to avoid prison time. According to the AP, Howe will be attending a juvenile rehabilitation academy and later, the teen -- with Guzman-DeJesus by his side -- will speak at schools about the dangers of guns.
“We can make a change to help other children,” Guzman-DeJesus told reporters after Howe's hearing Tuesday. "[Howe] was Jina’s friend, too, and I know she wouldn’t want the worst."