A girls trip turned into a nightmare over the weekend, and it was all because someone brought a gun.
24-year-old Taniyria Holt has been arrested and charged in the shooting of her own sister, 18-year-old Dre’Naya Ponder, after what police say was an accidental shooting.
Holt and Ponder were on a road trip from Atlanta to Miami Beach with two friends on Sunday night when tragedy struck.
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According to the police report obtained by The Miami Herald, all four women were filming themselves on their phones. Holt was in the passenger seat messing with a gun owned by friend Ashley Burden, who was sitting directly behind her. She says she even double checked the 9mm handgun was empty — racking it (pulling back the slide) and watching a live round ejected — before handing it to her younger sister.
But her check wasn’t thorough. And with semiautomatic weapons, ejecting one round just reloads another round into the chamber. You know, to make it easier to fire over and over.
So the gun was not empty. Nor was the safety on. The report says:
“Thinking the firearm was free of live rounds, Ms. Holt said she went to pass the firearm over to her sister, Ms. Ponder (who was sitting behind the driver), but accidentally shot her.”
The gun discharged, shooting the teen point blank in the face, right through her cell phone. Per the report:
“The cellular phone being utilized by Ms. Ponder showed signs of the projectile having penetrated it as said projectile struck Ponder in the facial area, causing her injuries.”
And just like that, a fun weekend turned into the worst night of their lives. And it was all caught on video.
Ponder was taken to the hospital, where she was put on life support. According to doctors the young woman has “no expectancy of survival.” The Herald was told doctors were just waiting on the girl’s parents to come down from Georgia, presumably to say goodbye and give them permission to pull the plug.
At first police believed the gunshot wound to be self-inflicted, but they say Holt waived her right to remain silent and immediately told them the truth, admitting she was the one who had pulled the trigger — and taken her sister’s life. The Atlanta native was charged with culpable negligence that inflicts personal injury and improper exhibition of firearms. However, if — and let’s face it, when — her sister dies, a charge of manslaughter is likely to be added.
No matter the sentencing, Holt is unlikely to ever forgive herself for the fatal accident. Stay safe out there, y’all, especially around guns. Never forget, they aren’t toys — they’re machines designed to kill humans, and that’s just what they do.
[Image via Miami-Dade Corrections/YouTube.]
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