JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The woman accused of manslaughter in the shooting that killed 19-year-old Aniyah Womack was filming a TikTok when the crime happened, according to a newly-released arrest report.
Mariah Clayton, 20, is accused of shooting Womack with a rifle. Womack was shot once in the abdomen and died at Memorial Hospital on University Boulevard in Jacksonville on May 24, the arrest report states.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said Womack was shot because Clayton was handling a rifle in a negligent way while "attempting to film TikTok videos." The report says she was repeatedly warned by friends that she should not be "playing with rifle." The report said the weapon discharged because she was being careless, not because she intended to harm Womack.
Several people were at an apartment in the Regency area of Jacksonville when the shooting happened. While the report shows Clayton told police she was not holding the rifle, witnesses told a different account of what happened that night.
One witness told police that before the shooting, she saw Clayton holding an all-black rifle and "advised her she did not need to be playing with the rifle."
Clayton did not put the rifle down. Instead, the witness said she continued to act out a scene where she "popped out of the shower" with the rifle. The report says Womack was the one filming the videos.
How the rifle discharged was disputed by different witnesses. One said that one of the people in the apartment was attempting to check the safety while Clayton held the rifle, and it discharged at that point -- this witness said the other person never actually touched the weapon.
Another witness said Clayton began putting the rifle down and it discharged as she put it down.
Clayton told police that one of the witnesses put his arms around her and grabbed the gun, which police say was proven false.
Clayton was arrested on manslaughter charges after police determined her negligence had caused Womack to be shot, which led to her death. Her bond is set at $250,000.
