Inset: Ada Anderson. Background: Anderson during her arrest for allegedly spraying bear mace at her neighbor and two children at her Ocala home (Marion County Sheriff’s Office).
An 81-year-old Florida woman is accused of showering a mother and her two young kids with bear spray and calling them racial epithets as they were playing with bubbles.
Ada Anderson is facing three counts of battery. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, a woman and her children, ages 3 and 6, were outside their Ocala home playing with bubble toys on Friday. That’s when their neighbor, Anderson, came up to the fence between their two properties and allegedly sprayed bear mace at them while yelling “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.
