By Tiffany Walden
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — Zane Terryn and his 16-year-old girlfriend wanted to die together in Ohio, authorities said.
The 15-year-old boy stole a handgun and money from a relative’s Palm Bay home Sunday before the young couple headed north on Interstate 95 to Terryn’s home state, according to deputies.
But a state trooper’s inquiry about the teenagers’ broken headlight at a Pilot Travel Center in Cocoa about 9:45 p.m. halted their plan when Terryn started shooting at the trooper.
Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Channing Taylor was shot in the shoulder.
He fired back at Terryn, killing him.
Terryn’s girlfriend tried to escape in her vehicle but soon struck a boat that was being pulled by a pickup on State Road 520.
She was charged with attempted murder of a law-enforcement officer and second-degree murder.
The attempted-murder charge is from the trooper’s injury, authorities said, because she played a key role in the shooting.
"[S]he provided access to the firearm. It was in her truck [that] they traveled in,” said FHP Maj. Tod Goodyear, “and she fled the scene after the event.”
The murder charge is from her boyfriend’s death.
“Since a person died while she and the deceased suspect were in the commission of a felony crime, she was charged with felony murder,” Goodyear added.
She is being held without bond.
The Orlando Sentinel is not naming the girl because of her age.
Taylor is recovering from the shoulder wound, which was treated at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.
He has since been released from the hospital.
“Lieutenant Taylor is currently on paid administrative leave and is recuperating from his injuries, which is the normal practice in cases of this nature,” Goodyear wrote in a statement Monday.
As the investigation continued Monday, officials released details about the shooting.
According to troopers, the teens were traveling to Ohio — Terryn’s home state — to commit suicide.
Taylor was parked at the Pilot Travel Center on West King Street.
Meanwhile, the teens had stopped at the gas station to get food. Channing noticed the broken headlight and walked over to the teens to talk about the “safety equipment problem,” the release said.
While Taylor was talking to the girlfriend, who was in the driver’s seat, “Terryn, who was the passenger in the vehicle, produced a firearm and began shooting at the trooper,” Goodyear said.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is looking into the use of force with a parallel but independent investigation.
Taylor began his career as a trooper in 1994.
He was promoted to lieutenant in 2007 and is supervisor of traffic homicide for the Brevard district.
It’s unclear whom Terryn lived with in Palm Bay.
She is also from the same city in Brevard County.
Copyright 2015 The Orlando Sentinel