According to an arrest report reviewed by PEOPLE, Clayton, then 20, shot Womack with a rifle she was using as prop while filming TikTok videos inside an apartment on May 23, 2023. The report states Womack died from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.
20 Year Old Mariah Clayton Charged & sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Manslaughter After Killing Her Freind Aniyah Womack On Tiktok Live She Says It Was An Accident.
Mariah Clayton, now 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on March 8 in connection with the 2023 shooting death of 19-year-old Aniyah Womack, according to online court records. She was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison followed by five years of probation, the records show.
Authorities said in the report that Womack was filming Clayton as she attempted to make TikTok videos where Clayton “popped out” of the shower while using the rifle as a prop. Then at some point, the rifle discharged and struck Womack, causing her death.
It wasn’t until five months later, in October 2023, that Clayton would be arrested and charged with manslaughter in connection with Womack’s death.
Womack was remembered as a “social butterfly” by loved ones on a GoFundMe campaign created in the wake of her death. The fundraiser states Womack told her family she was with friends and would be returning home soon on the day she died.
“She was just such a bubbly person she would do anything for you,” her mother, Andrea Brown, told WJAX-TV after the deadly shooting. “We had the best relationship; she was my twin.”
Clayton expressed regret in a letter shared in court the day she pleaded guilty, calling the shooting “truly an accident,” First Coast News reported.
“I wake up every morning wishing I did everything different,” she wrote.
