Neighbor Pepper Sprayed 2 Little Girls Who Were Blowing Bubbles in Their Own Yard

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Summertime is almost here, and that means many kids have finished school and are playing outside more, enjoying the summer weather. It’s what summer is all about. For two little girls in Florida, however, the happiness of the warmer weather turned negative after a harrowing experience with their next-door neighbor. Allegedly, 81-year-old Ada Anderson pepper sprayed the two girls and their mom, all because she didn’t seem to appreciate that the girls were enjoying some harmless fun – and made sure they knew it. The girls’ mom believes the elderly neighbor’s attack may have been racially motivated.

Anderson was arrested following the incident on May 30, 2025, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office’s, Newsweek reported. Police said the 3-year-old and 6-year-old girls were in their yard in Ocala, Florida, blowing bubbles. Anderson walked to the fence that separates their homes, spraying the girls and their mother with either pepper spray or bear mace.

The girls’ mother, April Morant, told police Anderson shouted racial slurs at them because they’re Black. According to Morant, this isn’t the first time she’s done so. She gave sheriff’s deputies video evidence of other instances.

Officer Wesley Kenny, who filed the affidavit, said he noticed an orange/brown substance on the fence. Morant said she and her daughters were hit with the spray. Her lungs hurt, while her 6-year-old daughter told officers her nose hurt, Newsweek reported. Kenny noted that officers also felt irritation from whatever was on the fence.

“Deputies did not recover the canister used during the crime; however, Deputy Kenny observed the substance on the ground and identified it as pepper spray in his report,” Zach Moore, public information officer at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, told the news outlet. 

Anderson is being charged with three counts of battery in the second degree, a felony. It’s considered second-degree because the attack was allegedly racially motivated. She posted bond and is expected in court on July 1.

“Bubbles,” April Morant told WESH. “Literally. The bubbles put her in a whole other arena whatever going on with her mind.”

The mom said she thought Anderson “had a gun” when she approached. “So I literally kind of jumped. It startled me ’cause when she was to the fence, she was over the fence like this, and I didn’t know what was in her hand, cause I’m looking at her really quick, and then she sprayed it,” she said, per WESH.

Morant told the news outlet that she has been having trouble with Anderson since she moved in. The older woman has repeatedly used racial slurs, calling her and her children the n-word. But the spray incident takes things to another level. “I feel like she’s escalating,” Morant shared.

The mom said she’s trying to get a restraining order against her neighbor, as well as trying to get money to move.