Woman who accidentally shot sister in car now charged with manslaughter after teen dies
Taniyria Holt (Photos: Miami-Dade Corrections/WSVN)
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - A woman who police said accidentally shot her teenage sister in the face while handing her a gun inside a car has now been charged with manslaughter after the teen succumbed to her injuries.
The shooting happened June 6 on Alton Road in Miami Beach. 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.
"The shooter in this case, she says, was handing the firearm to the victim when it discharged," Miami Beach Police Officer Ernesto Rodriguez told WSVN. "One-hundred percent avoidable. That firearm should not have been on display."
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Taniyria Holt, 24, of Atlanta, was initially arrested and charged with culpable negligence that inflicts personal injury and improper exhibition of firearms. Following her sister's death, she was rearrested and her charge was upgraded to manslaughter with a deadly weapon, according to 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 had been on life support. Police say the teen died June 9.