PORT CHARLOTTE — Charlotte County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 15-year-old boy for shooting three of his school friends Thursday after they refused to smoke synthetic marijuana with him. The Port Charlotte teen, whose name is being withheld because of his age, was charged with three felony counts of aggravated battery using a deadly weapon, and petit theft. CCSO received a call at 7:26 p.m. for a disturbance at Duxbury and Dalton avenues in Port Charlotte. Two boys told deputies they had been shot by the 15-year-old with a pellet gun, causing open wounds and bleeding. One victim, 14, was shot in the back. The other, 15, was shot in the calf, thumb and bicep. Another 15 year old boy had been shot in the face about an inch and a half below his right eye, on the back of each arm, and twice in the back.

All three boys said they had been hanging out at a home on Duxbury Avenue with the suspect, who lit up a joint containing synthetic marijuana and started passing it around. All three boys told him they would not smoke it. He got annoyed when one of the boys smacked the joint out of his hand. He left, came back, and pulled a pellet gun hidden in his shirt and started shooting. The suspect was booked into the Charlotte County Jail, then transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice center in Fort Myers.