A 20-year-old woman has been accused of murder after she was seen on camera pummeling a 55-year-old lady into the ground over a stolen necklace in Miami Beach.
Zaria Liana Williams was taken into custody after cellphone video showed her running after and brutally beating up Anna Mathis in the middle of the street.
Police said Williams, Mathis and a third woman were sitting at the intersection of 5th Street and Ocean Drive when Mathis allegedly ‘snatched’ the third woman’s necklace.
As the ‘erratically’ behaving jewelry-snatcher ran with the necklace, Williams quickly jumped to her feet and began chasing Mathis down, according to the arrest report.
Zaria Liana Williams, 20, (pictured) was taken into custody after cellphone video showed her running after and brutally beating up Anna Mathis, 55, in the middle of the street
Witnesses later told investigators that as both women came to a halt, the accused jumped into a ‘fighting stance’ right before she began throwing punches.
Video footage from multiple angles shows the suspect straddled the victim and repeatedly kept pounding her.
Right before deputies arrived at the scene, a good Samaritan stepped in and pushed Williams away, the arrest report stated.
‘This girl was on top of her like beating the s*** out of her,’ a witness told NBC6. ‘I work at TGI Friday’s and when I came out she was on top of her beating the s*** out of her.’
Video footage from multiple angles shows the suspect straddled the victim and repeatedly kept pounding her
Officials later clarified that Mathis had never actually took the necklace, instead the third woman ‘later found it inside of the sports top she was wearing’.
According to WSVN-TV, both Williams and Mathis were homeless and were already known by the police.
Mathis, who had suffered a neck injury as well as a substantial brain bleed, was transported to Mount Sinai Medical Center and intubated.
But soon, doctors declared the victim as brain dead and said there was no chance of recovery.
Right before deputies arrived at the scene, a good Samaritan stepped in and pushed Williams away, the arrest report stated
When a patient is declared brain dead, they are legally considered to be deceased.
Williams was initially charged with aggravated battery but it was later upgraded to second-degree murder when Mathis was declared brain died.
The accused is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Her bond for the second-degree murder charge was listed in jail records as ‘to be set’. It was initially set at $1 million when she was accused of aggravated battery.
