Woman arrested after accidentally firing gun inside car, leaving sister on life support
MIAMI - A Georgia woman visiting South Florida accidentally shot her teenage sister in the face while handing her a gun inside a car, police said.
The shooting occurred Sunday night on Alton Road in Miami Beach, WSVN reported. First responders located a 2019 Jaguar with four female occupants inside.
The women told officers they were recording cellphone videos while displaying a gun, handing it back and forth to each other.
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"The shooter in this case, she says, was handing the firearm to the victim when it discharged," said Miami Beach Police Officer Ernesto Rodriguez. "One-hundred percent avoidable. That firearm should not have been on display."
Taniyria Holt, 24, of Atlanta, has been arrested and charged with culpable negligence that inflicts personal injury and improper exhibition of firearms.
Taniyria Holt (Photos courtesy: Miami-Dade Corrections, WSVN)
According to the arrest report, Holt shot her sister, identified in the arrest report as 18-year-old Dre'Naya Ponder.
Holt said she racked the firearm and watched a live round eject. Believing the gun was unloaded, she said he handed it to her sister, but the gun fired and hit Ponder.
Rescue crews transported Ponder to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where she remained on life support Monday. Doctors told WSVN she is not expected to survive.
After appearing in bond court Tuesday morning, Judge Gerald Hubbart raised her bond from $2,000 to $10,000, despite pleas from a public defender to release her so she could be by her sister's side in the hospital.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.