Inset: Ada Anderson. Background: Anderson being arrested for reportedly attacking her neighbor and two children with bear mace at her Ocala residence (Marion County Sheriff’s Office).
An 81-year-old woman from Florida is accused of dousing a mother and her two young children with bear spray and hurling racial slurs at them as they played with bubbles.
Ada Anderson is facing three charges of battery. As detailed in a probable cause arrest affidavit, a woman and her kids, aged 3 and 6, were playing with bubble toys outside their Ocala home on Friday. That’s when Anderson, their neighbor, allegedly approached the fence separating their properties and sprayed them with bear mace while shouting “stupid n—s.”
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The spray hit them, causing their lungs to be affected, the affidavit states. Cops interviewed the 6-year-old girl who said it made her “nose hurt.” The mom said Anderson had yelled racial slurs at her and her children “multiple times” in the past. She recorded a video of Anderson earlier in the day that appeared to show her holding the bear spray, per the affidavit. She also could allegedly be heard yelling something along the lines of “neighborhood … f—ing n—.” Anderson is white, while the victims are Black.
Deputies examined the fence and could see what appeared to be remnants of the bear spray. It irritated the deputy’s nose and throat.
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Anderson told deputies the victims were “running up and down the fence and yelling at her,” so she sprayed the mace from her front porch. She claimed it did not touch the victims. But deputies noted the porch is about 40 feet from the fence.
Cops arrested Anderson and took her to the Marion County Jail, where she has since posted a $6,000 bond. She was appointed a public defender and her next court date is scheduled for July 1.
Records show she was previously arrested for aggravated assault and stalking in 2019 and 2017, respectively. The assault charge also had to do with a neighbor dispute, but prosecutors did not pursue the case.
