Police released new details Wednesday about an Atlanta woman who remains on life support in Miami Beach after she was accidentally shot in the head by her sister over the weekend.
Dre’Naya Ponder, 18, is in critical condition after the shooting that happened about 8:15 p.m. Sunday, Miami Beach police spokesman Officer Ernesto Rodriguez told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ponder’s sister, 24-year-old Taniyria Akias Holt, was arrested Sunday and faces multiple charges related to the shooting, the AJC previously reported. She has been charged with negligence and improper exhibition of a firearm, with manslaughter charges pending in the event of Ponder’s death.
The shooting happened as four women drove together in a 2019 Jaguar F-Pace along the Julia Tuttle Causeway, a bridge that takes I-195 motorists over Biscayne Bay to Miami Beach.
As one woman drove, the others were recording themselves on cellphones while Holt held a 9 mm handgun owned by one of the others, the police incident report said. Sitting in the front passenger seat, Holt racked the handgun to eject one live round, thinking the weapon was empty, according to the report. Holt told police she passed the firearm to Ponder in the rear driver’s-side seat and, in the process, accidentally shot her.
Ponder was hit in the face and taken to Miami Jackson Hospital for head trauma, the report said.
According to a Facebook post from Miami Beach police, the initial 911 caller reported that the victim accidentally shot herself.
“We’ve learned the initial 911 information received alleging the gunshot wound was self-inflicted was not accurate,” police said in the post.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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