A 22-year-old Milwaukee woman is in BIG trouble after her intimidation stunt resulted in the death of a Black teen. Everybody, including her mama, came forth to detail to the cops the chaotic scene.
Milwaukee police say they were dispatched to 39th and Vliet streets two weeks ago following a report of a potential overdose. Civilians attempted to administer Narcan to the victim but medical personnel found a gunshot wound to the victim’s back upon arrival, per FOX6 Now. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as 14-year-old Alijah Golden-Richmond.
Witnesses spilled the tea to the police alleging the teen attempted to steal a car but found a woman inside, per the report. Golden-Richmond and the other teens he was with then ran down the street. However, a witness told police the same car pulled around, appearing to be looking for them, so they hid on the front porch of a house.
However, the report says the witness told police a woman in the car began firing shots in the air and the group of teens scattered. However, some of those bullets were allegedly directed toward them and fatally struck Golden-Richmond. Police arrested 22-year-old Zariah Johnson Aug. 20 as the potential suspect—after accounts from eyewitnesses and Johnson’s mother, per court records.
Read more from FOX6 Now:
Detectives interviewed defendant Johnson on Friday, Aug. 16. She initially said a man was the shooter. But after Johnson was advised that “a witness said the shooter was a female and that her own mother had said she was the shooter, Zariah Johnson began to cry and said she did not intend to kill anyone and just wanted to ‘scare’ them. Zariah Johnson admitted she was the shooter,” the complaint says.
Johnson went on to tell police more about what happened that Thursday. She said she was in her home when she learned her sister’s car was being broken into. Johnson said she saw four individuals near the vehicle and “armed herself with her mother’s black handgun. When she went outside, the subjects observed her and ran away,” the complaint says.
Johnson admitted to police she went looking for the group of teens and shot at them about four times, according to the criminal complaint. Police said she didn’t discover the bullets she shot landed until she came across a Facebook Live of the victim. Johnson told the police she told her mother what happened and fled the area after disposing the firearm in a trashcan, per court documents.
Johnson was charged with first-degree reckless homicide, party to a crime and use of a dangerous weapon, per jail records. Her cash bail amount was set at $150,000.