Florida man who fatally shot 15-year-old boy looking for phone won’t be charged: cops

A man who fatally shot a teen searching for his phone in a gated Florida community will not be criminally charged, according to authorities.

The shooter, who is in his mid-20s, fatally gunned down the high-school freshman — identified by family as 15-year-old Heitor Amaral — in a Tampa apartment complex Sept. 20, said the Tampa Police Department and Tampa Bay Times.

Investigators have concluded that they will not be able to charge the unidentified gun-wielding resident based on a “comprehensive review of the evidence,” police announced Thursday.

Heitor lost his cellphone and teamed up with two of his friends later that day to locate it — using tracking-technology pings to trace it to the complex on River Willow Place, cops said.

The group of youngsters entered the community through an open gate and parked a truck in the middle of a roadway while looking for the device.

After complying with a request to move the vehicle, they went door-to-door to ask questions and, after receiving no answer at a resident’s door, entered an enclosed back patio and banged on a glass sliding door, police said.

The unidentified resident put on a mask and armed himself to scare off the teens, and as two of them fled, a “physical altercation” broke out between Amaral and the resident.

The gun-wielding man told investigators that Amaral placed him in a headlock — spurring him to discharge a single round at the boy in fear for his life.

Amaral was critically injured by the gunshot and died of his injuries at the scene.

The Tampa Police Department presented its probe into the deadly shooting to the state’s attorney’s office, which determined that it would be unable to refute that the man shot the 15-year-old in self-defense.

“We recognize the profound pain and concern this tragedy has caused for the family and friends of those involved, and for our entire community,” the department wrote in a statement.

Cops did not release the boy’s name, but his sister, Maysa Amaral, told the Tampa Bay Times that her brother, who had just started his freshman year of high school, was the teen who died.

Yessenia Gonzalez, whose son Julio, 16, was with Amaral on the boys’ crusade to find the missing phone, claimed that there was no physical altercation before the shooting and that the group was all running before the resident opened fire.

“I want the truth out there,” Gonzalez told the outlet. “There was no fighting. These kids had no weapons.

“My son said, ‘I don’t know what scared me more, the guy wearing a mask in his own house or the gun,’ ” the mother added, stating her son described the shooter as looking like he “had a new toy” and was “jumping up and down” ready to use the firearm.

Gonzalez and Maysa Amaral said her brother, who was short and skinny, was not the type to start a fight.

The heartbroken sister said her brother was the youngest of three children, always did his chores, loved playing video games and enjoyed riding an electric bike his father gave him.

“He was such a good kid,” Maysa Amaral said. “He absolutely did not deserve what happened to him.”

A GoFundMe she started for Amaral’s funeral costs and funds for his family to hire a lawyer has raised more than $6,000 of its $10,000 goal.

“I want people to know that my brother was a loving and caring kid who had so much more life ahead of him, and now he is resting,” the fundraiser said.