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Florida woman sprays bear mace at neighbor's children playing with bubbles: deputies

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Published  June 4, 2025 6:54am EDT
Volusia County
FOX 35 Orlando
A Florida woman accused of spraying children with bear mace

A Florida woman accused of spraying children with bear mace

An 81-year-old Marion County woman is facing multiple charges after deputies say she sprayed her neighbors’ children with bear mace during a backyard incident fueled by ongoing tension.

The Brief

    • An 81-year-old Florida woman is facing charges for allegedly spraying two children with bear mace and yelling racial slurs at them.
    • The children’s mother says the harassment has been ongoing for months, and this was the second time the neighbor attacked her kids.
    • The woman has a prior arrest for aggravated assault and stalking and is now facing three battery charges.

OCALA, Fla. - An 81-year-old Marion County woman is facing multiple charges after deputies said she sprayed her neighbor and the neighbor’s two young children with bear mace last week.

According to an arrest report, the incident occurred while the neighbor and her daughters – ages 3 and 6 – were playing with soap bubble toys in their driveway.

The report also stated that the suspect yelled racial slurs at them while spraying the mace.

Florida woman accused of spraying bear mace at children

What we know:

On May 30, deputies responded to an Ocala home along Pine Court Drive after April Morant called to report that her neighbor, Ada Anderson, had sprayed her and her two daughters with bear mace.

Bear mace is a chemical irritant used to repel bears in the wilderness and can be toxic if ingested by people.

As Morant and her daughters were playing with bubbles on their property, Anderson allegedly walked over to the fence separating their properties and sprayed mace at them, the report stated.

Morant provided deputies with phone video showing Anderson holding what appeared to be bear mace inside her porch after the incident.

Ada Anderson (Credit: Volusia County Sheriff's Office)

Morant said Anderson also yelled racial slurs at them as she sprayed them—something Morant claimed Anderson had done in the past.

In another video from earlier that day, Anderson could be heard saying "neighborhood" followed by a racial slur, deputies said.

Evidence of the mace was still visible on the fence when law enforcement arrived.

When questioned, Anderson stated that Morant and her children were running up and down the fence and yelling at her, prompting her to open her porch screen door and spray them. Deputies noted that her porch is about 40 feet away from the fence.

‘I thought it was a gun’

What they're saying:

Morant told FOX 35 News the harassment has been going on for months.

"I look at my peripheral view, she's at the gate with what I thought at first—I thought it was a gun, so I was startled—I'm like, gasps, but it was like bear mace," Morant said. "A big cloud came, so I rushed the kids in like, ‘go in the house, go in the house,’ and so then I called the police on her — and then I found out she did it twice, and I didn't even know it was twice until my daughter let the officer know."

Anderson was arrested on three counts of battery.

This is the second time Anderson has been arrested for reportedly harassing a neighbor. In November 2019, records show she was arrested for aggravated assault with a weapon and stalking.

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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the Marion County Sheriff's Office and April Morant on June 3, 2025. Additional details were provided via online court documents. 

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