Inset: Trenton Robinson (Palm Beach County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The house where Robinson allegedly shot a 17-year-old in Boynton Beach, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida man has been arrested after allegedly shooting and killing a teenager who intervened in a domestic dispute, authorities in the state have reported.
Trenton Robinson, aged 24, faces charges of second-degree murder with a firearm, as detailed in Palm Beach County court documents.
The tragic event took place on December 28 at a home on Northwest Ninth Avenue in Boynton Beach, a city within the greater Miami metropolitan area.
Local police responded to reports of a shooting late that morning, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
Upon their arrival, officers found 17-year-old Josiah Jones with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Emergency medical services transported him to Delray Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Investigators revealed that Robinson was at the residence to pick up his young son from the child’s mother. During the visit, an argument erupted between the parents. As tensions rose, the teenager, Jones, attempted to intervene to calm the situation, according to the affidavit.
In the process, Robinson and the teen “grabbed a hold of one another,” according to the charging document. The pair “ended up on a bed still holding one another and that is when Josiah was shot.”
Police say Robinson was taken into custody there and “spontaneously uttered” an admission of sorts: “I fâd up. It was an accident.”
Detectives also interviewed the mother of the slain boy, who said she overheard her daughter and the defendant arguing and asked Josiah to go downstairs and separate them. The woman said she then went downstairs herself, heard a “pop,” and saw her son fall to the ground. Josiah’s mother next recalled her daughter saying: “You just shot my brother.”
Investigators also spoke with the sister of the victim. She said Robinson came to pick up his son when they began arguing. The sister said the argument “ended up getting loud but not physical.”
She said Josiah got in between her and Robinson and that her brother grabbed the defendant. As the two fell on the bed, Josiah allegedly held Robinson in a “bear hug,” according to the charging document.
The sister relayed the final moments as follows:
[Robinson] was trying to get up and saying, “get off me.” [Robinson] then removed a gun from his pocket and shot Josiah in the stomach. [The sister] stated that [Robinson] and Josiah were grabbing on to each other and not physically fighting or punching each other. After the shooting, [Robinson] stated, “he should have got off me.”
Police interviewed a second sister who offered much the same account of the day. She said she was the one who took the toddler out of the room during the argument and heard the shooting but did not see what happened, according to the affidavit.
The defendant, for his part, insisted the shooting was accidental in a custodial interview after being Mirandized.
“[Robinson] stated he was trying to remove the gun from his sweatshirt pocket because he did not want to shoot himself,” the affidavit reads. “While he removed the gun it went off accidentally. [Robinson] stated that the firearm was in his sweatshirt pocket and was not holstered.”
Police also noted that Robinson â in 911 call audio and at the scene of the crime â repeatedly said the shooting was an “accident.”
In a follow-up interview, the toddler’s mother reiterated that Josiah and Robinson “were not engaged in a physical fight and it did not appear that Josiah was hurting [Robinson] in any way,” according to the affidavit. She further said, “There was no reason for [Robinson] to pull his gun out.”
The defendant is being detained in the Palm Beach County Jail without bond. He is slated to appear in court on Feb. 26, 2026.
