Juvenile suspect charged with shooting Athens girl, who remains on ventilator in hospital

By Joe Johnson

A teenager has been arrested for the shooting of a girl last week in an eastside trailer park, Athens-Clarke County Police Department announced Monday afternoon.

The suspect, a15-year-old resident of the trailer park, was arrested Monday for allegedly shooting in the stomach Antijah Williford, also 15, last Tuesday night, while the victim was at Hallmark Estates, the trailer park off of Spring Valley Road, where the suspect lives and Williford has friends and relatives.

The injured girl is in critical condition at an Atlanta children’s hospital, where LaTonda Williford said Monday that her daughter was on a ventilator.

The shooting suspect, whose identity was being withheld by police because he is a juvenile was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and first-degree cruelty to children, according to Lt. Shaun Barnett, ACCPD’s public information officer.

He was being held at a Department of Juvenile Justice Regional Youth Detention Center, Barnett said.

The shooting investigation remains ongoing, and police asked for anyone with information related to the incident to contact Detective Scott Black at 762-400-7058 or scott.black@accgov.com.