A senseless tragedy during the filming of a TikTok video caused one young Florida woman to lose her life — and another to go to prison on a manslaughter conviction.
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.
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.
An investigation began that day when officers responded to Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., on a report of a shooting victim who had been driven to the hospital, according to the report.
The driver and Clayton, who was a passenger, initially claimed to police that they picked up Womack and brought her to the hospital after finding her suffering from a gunshot wound on the sidewalk. They eventually admitted that Womack suffered her injury during an incident at an apartment complex where several other people were present — and later interviewed by police.
Mariah Clayton.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office
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.
According to the arrest report, authorities said Clayton was “culpably negligent” in the way she handled the rifle. She was repeatedly told by others in the apartment not to play with the rifle but handled it anyway, per the report.
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.
Aniyah Womack.
GoFundMe
“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.
