Texas police responded to a shooting, only to find a woman with life-threatening injuries lying on the ground.
Witnesses say her boyfriend is a TikTok influencer, who’s suspected of the shooting and much much worse.
Ladarius Morshun Brownlee, 28, is behind the “denoandzahra” TikTok page where you can find content mainly of himself and his girlfriend, who has not been named by authorities but referred to as “Zahra” online.
From playing pranks on each other to Nerf gun wars to theoretical relationship quizzes, the duo seemed just like any other couple on the clock app.
That is until police found Zahra lying unresponsive on the ground in the wee hours of Friday morning with a gunshot wound to the face.
Flower Mound police said she was immediately transferred to the hospital. Witnesses identified Brownlee as the perpetrator.
According to authorities, onlookers said Bronwlee and Zahra got into a “heated argument” while walking home from the Flower Mound Independence Fest. That argument then turned into a physical altercation, police said. Eventually, the two got into a car and drove off with friends in the backseat.
Police said the argument continued in the car until Brownlee pulled over by the 1800 block of Flower Mound Road and pulled out a firearm. After swinging it toward the passengers in the back, he turned it on Zahra and shot her above her eye, police claim. Brownlee allegedly admitted to a 911 dispatcher that he’d shot his girlfriend and confessed to it later in an interview with detectives, authorities say.
Brownlee also told the police that, despite the funny TikTok videos, he’d had a verbally and physically abusive relationship with Zahra leading up to the shooting, per the Dallas Morning News. Internet users are now scrubbing through the couple’s page to find any evidence of abuse. One clip posted in May showed Brownlee putting Zahra in a chokehold and her punching him.
As of now, there is some light at the end of this dark tunnel. Zahra’s sister said at first, the injuries led doctors to believe Zahra wasn’t going to live. However, she appears to be making a recovery.
“She is doing good right now and is awake and stable, but a long recovery ahead. A week and a half ago, the doctors and detectives told us to say goodbye and today, she is awake, sitting up and took her first steps. Thank you for everyone reaching out and praying for my sister and our family, we appreciate everyone understanding,” Zahra’s sister wrote in an Instagram post.
Brownlee is being held on a $900,000 bond on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and deadly conduct-discharging a firearm, per jail records.