Homeless woman arrested for Athens Gardens stabbing

Shernita Charlene Preddy

By Joe Johnson

A 59-year-old homeless woman was arrested the evening of July 8th after she stabbed another woman several times during an altercation at the Athens Gardens apartment complex.

Police said when they responded to reports of the incident at around 8 p.m, officers found 56-year-old Deborah Williams being tended to by residents of the complex, with someone having wrapped an orange safety vest wrapped around her bleeding arm.

Residents pointed to Shernita Preddy as the suspect, at which time she tried to flee but was quickly caught by police.

Officers recovered a bag she had thrown, and in it they found three knives, including one with that was bloodstained.

Preddy told police that she had been sitting in a chair outside one of the apartments where residents had been allowing her to stay when Williams came out of the apartment and took her food without permission.

A fight ensued in which Preddy admitted to stabbing Williams before other residents intervened and began hitting her, with someone using a bicycle to hit her in the head.

Williams was transported by ambulance to the hospital and police arrested Preddy for aggravated assault and possession of a knife in the commission of a crime,

As of Tuesday morning, Preddy remained in pretrial detention without bail.