ORLANDO, Fla. — The 11-year-old girl who survived her family’s massacre Sunday in Polk County said the former U.S. Marine gunman told her that he killed her parents because they were “sex traffickers,” which authorities said Thursday was “a figment of his imagination.”
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said 33-year-old Bryan Riley “tortured” the girl for information on “Amber,” who he wrongly believed was a suicidal sex trafficking victim being held at the home. The girl, who has had four surgeries so far, was shot in the hand, legs, thigh and abdominal cavity, according to the sheriff.
“This 11-year-old was very brave, very smart and she out-thought him,” Judd said at a news conference. “She said, ‘I played dead and I prayed.’”
