An 81-year-old Florida woman is facing felony charges after allegedly spraying two young girls with pepper spray and using racial slurs because they were blowing bubbles, according to authorities.
April Morant of Ocala called 911 on Friday, May 30, to report that her neighbor, Ada Anderson, had allegedly “sprayed bear mace” on her and her two daughters, ages 6 and 3, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.
Morant told Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies that she and her daughters were playing with bubbles in their driveway when the suspect approached the metal fence separating their yards and sprayed them with bear mace, according to an affidavit.
Morant told the deputies that the suspect yelled “stupid n—–s” at them as she sprayed them. She claims the suspect has called her and her daughters racial slurs “multiple times in the past,” according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, the 6-year-old told a deputy she was playing with the bubbles when Anderson allegedly approached the fence and sprayed them, causing her “nose to hurt.”
Morant also claimed the spray irritated her lungs, according to the affidavit.
Deputies discovered “orange/brown liquid” on the victims’ property’s fence and grass, according to the report.
According to the affidavit, the substance irritated the deputies’ noses and throats. A responding deputy later identified it as pepper spray.
Deputies spoke with Anderson, who claimed the victims were “running up and down the fence and yelling at her, so she opened her porch screen door and sprayed the pepper spray at them,” according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, she claimed the pepper spray did not come into contact with them because the porch is 40 feet from the fence.
Anderson was booked and charged with three counts of second-degree felony battery. She is charged with second-degree battery because the alleged attack was racially motivated, according to the affidavit.
Morant told local outlet ClickOrlando that she has had issues with Anderson since she and her family moved to the neighborhood in November.
“She tells us every day, like, an everyday occurrence, every day since we have been here, we do not belong here and we are monkeys,” Morant told ClickOrlando.com. “And she calls us the N-word. So, there is always something. So I know she is doing everything she can to make me move.”
Anderson is scheduled to appear in court on July 1.