Miami-Dade state attorneys will no longer prosecute three family members once charged in connection to the death of an 11-year-old girl who died at the hospital after getting shot inside her apartment.
Police said Taliyah Clarke was shot inside an apartment at a building in the area of Northwest 2nd Avenue and Northwest 17th Street in Overtown back on July 9.
The girl’s father, 40-year-old Titato Hatzate Clarke, her grandmother, 59-year-old Charlene Ann Webster, and Titato Clarke’s partner, 43-year-old Nancy Severe, were the three arrested.
However, records show state attorneys dropped all of their manslaughter charges because of “insufficient evidence.”
According to arrest reports, Titato Clarke and Webster said Taliyah Clarke was in her room with her 9-year-old brother when they heard a loud “pop” come from the room.
They went in and found the girl suffering from a gunshot wound to her chest. She was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition and later died.
Since the beginning, police heard inconsistent stories from the family about what occurred inside the home and how the child ended up shot.
According to a 9-year-old child, the incident took place in the car with his father and the victim when he heard gun shots and saw that his sister was shot in the upper left shoulder.
However, records show detectives located blood on the floor in the children’s room, a spent casing, and a Glock.40 handgun sitting on top of a dog cage that was wrapped inside of a pink scarf and brown blanket.
That evidence was not enough to hold anyone accountable.
Prosecutors claim they will not be able to prove the manslaughter charges because witnesses are not cooperating with them.
According to records obtained by NBC6, the children nor the adults who were around were being truthful. Prosecutors were unable to conclude who even owned the firearm.
The three cases are considered closed.
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Source: nbcmiami
