Polk sheriff: 4 teens charged with attempted murder for intentionally running over woman with van

POLK CITY, Fla. - Four teenagers are charged with attempted murder after investigators say they purposely ran over a woman in Polk City.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to the victim's home around 2:50 p.m. Monday and found the woman critically injured after being run over by a van.

Investigators said 18-year-old Elijah Stansell brought three friends -- ages 14, 15 and 16 -- to the home to "handle" an ongoing romantic dispute with the victim's teenage son.

The suspects banged on the front door, but the teen came out of the side door and into the carport to see who was there. That's when deputies said Stansell physically attacked him. The victim ran back into the house, followed by Stansell and the 16-year-old, who continued beating him.

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Photo via Polk County Sheriff's Office

When the victim's mom came home, the suspects ran. The mother followed them and watched them get into their van across the street, so she began taking photos of the vehicle with her cell phone.

"Though there was enough room for the van to maneuver around her as she stood in the roadway, Stansell intentionally ran into her, then over her, before fleeing the scene," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

The sheriff's office said the mom remains in very critical condition at the hospital.

"This was a coordinated, planned attack, carried out by a group of teens who beat up a teen then ran over his mother, leaving her for dead," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. "I can't even fathom teenagers doing something so heinous. Our prayers are with this family."

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Home surveillance videos captured the crime, which was also witnessed by several bystanders. Video footage shows the suspects attacking the teenage victim and running over the boy's mother.

Deputies and Auburndale police officers soon apprehended the suspects after they fled.

All four suspects admitted to detectives that they'd gone to the home to confront the teenage victim.

"They all admitted to fleeing the scene on foot, being in the van when Stansell intentionally ran over the victim's mother, and then fleeing in the van after critically injuring her," the sheriff's office said.

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Stansell is charged with attempted felony murder, burglary with assault and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Investigators also charged him with lewd and lascivious battery on a 15-year-old victim, a crime they said they discovered after his arrest.

The three other suspects were taken to juvenile detention and charged with attempted felony murder and burglary with assault.