POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A teen is speaking out after, she said, she was threatened by an armed robber who demanded her cellphone as she waited for her school bus, Tuesday morning.
The teen, Jamia Brown, was left in shock over the encounter, and her father wants to prevent the situation from occurring again but said her school is not helping. Although the gunman has already been arrested, the teen’s father said that is not good enough. He’s demanding a change to the location of the bus stop to ensure his daughter’s safety.
The middle schooler was waiting at her bus stop on Northwest 30th Avenue and Ninth Street in Pompano Beach.
A school bus arrived to pick up the high schoolers before sunrise, around 6 a.m. "When high school [students] leave, she’s the only student that sits there by herself," said Jamie Brown, the victim’s father. "And that’s my concern, her being there by herself."
Police said the suspect, identified as 19-year-old Uriah Ottey, drove up after he saw the 14-year-old. He stopped his car, got out and approached the middle schooler. "He has a hoodie on and approaches her," Jamie said.
The teen recalled what the armed man said to her. "He said, ‘Give me your phone.’ Then I was like, ‘No,’" she said, "and so he pulled out a gun and was like, ‘Give me your phone.’"
Jamia then handed over the phone, as she was held at gunpoint. "It was scary ’cause you don’t know what else he could have done," she said.
Moments later, she knocked on a neighbor’s door to call for police and her dad. "’Daddy, daddy, daddy, a guy pulled a gun on me,’" Jamie said his daughter told him over the phone. "She’s crying."
The family said that Jamia was not this robber’s first victim. "What saved us is, there was a woman, the first victim in this whole process. She called her mom, and when she called her mom, her mom starts to follow the guy," Jamie said.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Ottey. However, Jamie said, he still feels unsettled. "I’ve called the school board, I’ve called the school board transportation," he said. "I’ve spoken with a supervisor."
The victim’s father said he wants the bus stop to be moved seven blocks closer to their home. "In front of my house would be perfect, but we don’t live in a perfect world, so I will split the difference," said Jamie.
He said that Broward County Schools told him that they would not move it. "I am so disappointed with the school board, the school system, the whole transportation system telling me, ‘Sorry, this is a neighborhood issue. We can’t help you. We cannot drop back five blocks to get your daughter out of harm’s way,’" he said.
Her father had some words for the alleged robber. "I just thank God that the police got you first," Jamie said. "You put a gun to a kid, a 14-year-old kid. Anything could have happened."
The Broward County School Board told 7News that the district takes all issues involving student’s safety seriously. The transportation staff are in process of reviewing the bus stop and all the students that use it, about 20 students.
Jamie said that his daughter is at the last stop and is left by herself. He said the bus stop needs to be moved, so she is not by herself and this situation does not happen again.
While the stop is under review, Jamie is reinstating his original safety plan by making sure that his daughter is never alone at that corner again. "This morning was the first morning I did not go, the first morning I didn’t go and look what happened," he said.
Ottey remains in jail without bond.