The adult cousin’s statement was redacted, leaving the injured boy’s account, a family witness and recovered evidence central to the public record.
SUNRISE, Fla. — A 12-year-old boy’s account from his hospital bed became a central part of the police case against his 28-year-old cousin after an argument over a gaming console allegedly ended with the child suffering a stab wound to his hip at a Sunrise apartment.
Police arrested Andrew Zagazeta, of Weston, early July 31 and accused him of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after the confrontation the night before in the 12800 block of Vista Isles Drive. The boy survived, and medical personnel described his injury as non-life-threatening. The public account of the case is notable for what investigators say they were able to piece together from several different sources rather than from one witness who saw the entire encounter. The relatives’ great-grandmother witnessed and interrupted the argument but did not report seeing a knife. The child later described the alleged stabbing to detectives. Police then reported recovering a knife from behind the television, a location that matched a key part of his statement.
When officers first arrived, the great-grandmother gave them a limited but significant account. She said the cousins had been arguing about a gaming console and that she stepped between them to separate them. She did not see either relative displaying a knife while she was present during that portion of the confrontation, according to the arrest report cited by local media. Her statement does not independently establish what happened moments later, but it provides a witness account of the argument that authorities say preceded the child’s injury. It also places an adult family member at the scene before the alleged stabbing, giving police a point of comparison when they later interviewed the boy about how the dispute developed.
The physical injury became apparent after Zagazeta was seen leaving the apartment, according to the reports. The great-grandmother followed him outside, and the 12-year-old then approached her and said his cousin had stabbed him in the right hip. Responding officers found the child with a wound, and emergency personnel transported him to Broward Health Medical Center. Local 10 News reported that the wound was about 1 centimeter deep. Authorities described it as non-life-threatening, an important distinction in a case involving a child and a knife. The reports reviewed do not provide evidence of a prolonged attack or multiple wounds, and they do not describe any life-saving surgery or other severe medical intervention.
At the hospital, detectives obtained the child’s fuller version of events. The boy said the argument started after he discovered that Zagazeta was using his gaming console without permission. According to the arrest report, he described the disagreement as heated and said his cousin pushed him. That account adds a physical component before any alleged use of a knife, although it remains an allegation contained in the police investigation. The available reporting does not identify the type or brand of gaming system, what game was being played or how long Zagazeta had been using it. Police have not suggested that the content of a game caused the encounter; the reported dispute concerned who had permission to use the console.
The boy also gave detectives a potentially complicating detail rather than portraying himself as having never touched a weapon. He said that during the confrontation he took a knife from a storage block in the kitchen. According to police, the 12-year-old said he put the knife back after his great-grandmother intervened and separated the cousins. None of the reviewed reports says he used the knife, injured anyone with it or continued holding it after the intervention. That admission is part of the affidavit’s chronology and could become relevant if the case advances, particularly because Zagazeta’s own description of the confrontation has not been publicly disclosed. An arrest report records the investigators’ probable-cause case; later court proceedings may test how the various parts of that account fit together.
The child told investigators that after the intervention he walked toward the gaming system to retrieve it. He alleged that Zagazeta then pulled out a knife from behind the television and stabbed him in the right hip area. Police later reported finding a knife behind the television. That recovery gives the publicly described investigation a piece of physical evidence associated with the location identified in the child’s statement. The reports do not disclose whether fingerprints, DNA or other laboratory examinations were conducted, however, nor do they say whether police concluded that the recovered knife was definitively the weapon that caused the wound. Those details should not be assumed in the absence of released forensic findings.
Another missing piece is Zagazeta’s own explanation. Police said he made a statement to investigators, but the version of the arrest affidavit obtained by reporters contained a redacted account of what he said. That means the public does not have his narrative of the argument from the same document that provides the child’s allegations. It is therefore not possible from the reports reviewed to say whether Zagazeta denied using a knife, asserted a different sequence of events or offered another explanation. The absence of his statement is especially relevant because the great-grandmother did not witness the alleged stabbing and the boy acknowledged that he had briefly handled a separate kitchen knife earlier in the confrontation.
Authorities nevertheless concluded that they had grounds to arrest Zagazeta. He was booked into the Broward County jail system on an aggravated battery allegation, and initial reports placed his bond at $20,000. A Broward arrest listing described the charge as aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and included a domestic-violence designation. The booking entry is not a conviction and does not establish that every allegation in the police report is true. It records the accusation under which he entered the jail system. News reports published shortly after the arrest said he remained jailed at that time, but the reviewed material does not establish his custody status more than a month later.
Florida’s aggravated battery statute helps explain why police could pursue that charge even though the boy’s wound was characterized as non-life-threatening. State law provides that aggravated battery may occur when a person uses a deadly weapon while committing a battery, separate from another provision covering great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement. The offense under that section is classified as a second-degree felony. Whether prosecutors can prove the statutory elements in Zagazeta’s case is a separate question from the arrest decision. No conviction has been reported in the sources reviewed, and the allegations remain subject to the criminal court process.
The evidence described publicly thus forms a narrow chain rather than a complete recording of the incident. An adult relative confirmed that an argument occurred and said she intervened. The child then appeared with an injury and identified Zagazeta as the person who stabbed him. In a hospital interview, he described both his own temporary possession of a knife and the location from which he said Zagazeta obtained another one. Officers reported finding a knife behind the television. At the same time, the only known family witness did not see the stabbing, no forensic conclusions have been publicly reported, and Zagazeta’s police statement remains unavailable because it was redacted.
Those boundaries are likely to matter as the accusation moves beyond the initial police investigation. The public reports reviewed do not identify a final case disposition or provide a verified later court ruling. Zagazeta is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, while the 12-year-old was last publicly described as having suffered a non-life-threatening injury. For now, the arrest report supplies the most detailed reconstruction of how police say a dispute over permission to use a gaming console escalated into an alleged felony inside a family residence.
Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.