Police said a 12-year-old boy suffered a non-life-threatening hip wound after a family dispute escalated inside a Sunrise apartment.

SUNRISE, Fla. — A 28-year-old Florida man was arrested after police said he stabbed his 12-year-old cousin during an argument over a gaming console, an encounter that allegedly escalated even after the boys’ great-grandmother stepped between the relatives and tried to separate them.

Andrew Zagazeta, of Weston, was arrested early July 31 on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to local reporting based on a Sunrise Police Department arrest report. The alleged stabbing happened the previous night at an apartment complex in the 12800 block of Vista Isles Drive. The child was taken to a hospital with an injury to his right hip that police described as non-life-threatening. The case centers on competing moments in a short family confrontation: an argument about use of the console, an intervention by the great-grandmother, the child’s admitted handling of one knife and his allegation that Zagazeta later obtained a knife and stabbed him as he moved toward the gaming system.

Police said the dispute began because Zagazeta had been using the 12-year-old’s gaming console without permission. According to the child’s statement to detectives, he confronted his older cousin and the exchange became heated. The boy told investigators that Zagazeta pushed him during the confrontation. The arrest report, as described by Local 10 News, does not indicate that the disagreement began over money, a video game being played or damage to the equipment. The reported issue was the adult cousin’s use of the system without the child’s permission. That distinction matters because authorities have described a relatively ordinary argument over possession and permission as the starting point of a confrontation that soon resulted in an arrest on a felony allegation.

The great-grandmother of both relatives was inside the residence and became the first person known to have tried to stop the dispute. She told responding officers that she heard the pair arguing over the gaming system and intervened to separate them. Police said she did not see either person displaying a knife while she was breaking up the argument. Her account therefore establishes an important limit on what she personally witnessed: she could describe the dispute and her effort to intervene, but the reports reviewed do not say she saw the alleged stabbing itself. That gap is filled principally by the 12-year-old’s later statement to detectives and by the physical injury officers and medical personnel observed.

The child also told investigators about his own contact with a knife during the confrontation. According to police, he acknowledged removing a knife from a storage block in the kitchen after the argument became heated. He said he returned it to the block when his great-grandmother intervened. The available reports do not say that the child threatened Zagazeta with that knife or used it against anyone, and authorities did not announce any allegation against the boy. The detail is nevertheless part of the police account because it helps establish the sequence investigators say preceded the stabbing. It also distinguishes the knife the child said he briefly handled from the weapon that he alleged Zagazeta later used.

After the relatives had been separated, the child said he began walking toward his gaming console to retrieve it. At that point, according to his statement in the arrest report, Zagazeta obtained a knife from behind the television and stabbed him in the right hip area. Police later reported recovering a knife from behind the television. The publicly described evidence does not establish in the reports reviewed how the knife came to be there, how long it had been there or whether forensic testing was conducted. Those questions would be matters for investigators and, if the prosecution proceeds, potentially for later court proceedings. The arrest report reflects the basis police said they had for taking Zagazeta into custody; it is not a finding of guilt.

The great-grandmother told police that after the confrontation she saw Zagazeta leaving the apartment and followed him outside. The child then approached her and said he had been stabbed, according to the arrest report. Officers responding to the residence found the boy suffering from a wound to his hip. He was transported to Broward Health Medical Center, where the injury was treated and described as non-life-threatening. Local reporting said the puncture wound measured about 1 centimeter in depth. Authorities have not publicly released the child’s name, and the reports reviewed do not provide a later medical update. Keeping the minor unidentified is consistent with the limited public information authorities have released about him.

Detectives interviewed the child at the hospital, allowing investigators to obtain a more detailed account after the initial response at the apartment. That hospital interview produced much of the chronology later described in news reports: the allegation that Zagazeta had used the console without permission, the push during the argument, the great-grandmother’s intervention, the child’s brief removal and replacement of a kitchen knife, and the allegation that Zagazeta then used another knife when the boy moved toward the console. The reports also say Zagazeta gave police a statement, but that portion of the affidavit was redacted. As a result, the publicly available reporting does not establish his explanation of the confrontation or whether he disputed specific parts of the child’s account.

Police arrested Zagazeta after the investigation and he was booked into the Broward County jail system. Early reports said he was being held on a $20,000 bond. Jail-related records available after the arrest listed an aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charge and identified the matter as involving domestic violence. Florida law defines domestic violence to include certain violent offenses between qualifying family or household members. The statutory definition contains additional requirements concerning family relationships and shared residence, however, and the publicly reviewed reports do not provide enough information about the cousins’ living history to independently analyze why the booking classification was applied in this case.

Under Florida law, aggravated battery can be charged when a person committing a battery intentionally or knowingly causes great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement, or when a deadly weapon is used. The statute classifies aggravated battery under that provision as a second-degree felony. The charge against Zagazeta remains an accusation. Prosecutors would have to prove the elements of any filed criminal offense, and the defense would have an opportunity to challenge the evidence, witness accounts and the state’s interpretation of the encounter. The fact that the child’s injury was reported as non-life-threatening does not by itself answer whether the elements of aggravated battery are met because the statute separately addresses the alleged use of a deadly weapon.

The case also contains factual limits that are important to the public account. The great-grandmother did not report seeing the stabbing. The boy’s account identifies the alleged sequence and the person he said wounded him, while police reported recovering a knife from the location he described. Zagazeta’s own statement has not been made public in the reports reviewed because it was redacted from the arrest affidavit. No motive beyond the dispute over use of the gaming console has been announced, and there is no verified basis to attribute a broader reason for the alleged violence. The available reports also do not describe surveillance footage, additional eyewitnesses or forensic results that might independently establish every stage of the confrontation.

The most recent reporting reviewed established Zagazeta’s arrest and initial $20,000 bond but did not provide a verified later disposition of the case. No conviction is established by the arrest report, and Zagazeta is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The 12-year-old’s reported injury was considered non-life-threatening when he was treated after the July 30 confrontation. Any later court filings or proceedings would determine how prosecutors ultimately pursue the allegation and what evidence is presented beyond the police account that supported the arrest.

Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.