New details emerge on shooting death of Aiken County girl
WINDSOR, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - We have new details about the fatal shooting of a 10-year-old girl in an apparent accident in Aiken County.
The details are gleaned from an incident report released Wednesday by the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
In the second Aiken County shooting of a child within 24 hours, Miyah Harp died Monday night after being shot in the chest.
It happened several hours after the nonfatal shooting of a 3-year-old elsewhere in Aiken County.
Although they’re unrelated, both shootings are part of a trend of violence claiming young lives in the CSRA and elsewhere.
The fatal shooting was reported around 9:57 p.m. Monday in the 300 block of Wendy Lane in Windsor, according to the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
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Miyah was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:13 p.m. from a gunshot wound to the chest.
A preliminary investigation indicates a family member was handling a small-caliber rifle when it accidentally discharged, according to Aiken County Coroner Darryl Ables.
An autopsy will be conducted in Newberry.
According to an incident report released Wednesday by the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, deputies arrived to find the girl’s mother holding the victim, who was bleeding. The girl was unresponsive, with a gunshot wound to the chest.
The mother, Amalia Nicole Beltran, 32, is the only person other than the victim listed on the incident report. She is listed as both the “suspect” and the witness.
After the incident. Beltran was arrested on a charge of drugs/trafficking in methamphetamine or cocaine base - 28 grams or more, but less than 100 grams - first offense, according to authorities.
Her arrest was not directly in connection with the shooting.
THE LOCAL TOLL
Earlier cases: This is part of a pattern
- In January, a 5-year-old accidentally shot himself in Augusta, sending him to the hospital.
- In May 2023, 4-year-old Phoenix Daniels shot herself with her dad’s gun in Grovetown. She died a month later.
- In November 2023, just days before his fifth birthday, Zykee Ryans died after shooting himself with an unsecured gun in Augusta.
The Windsor shooting followed one just after 3 a.m. Monday that injured a 3-year-old boy in a mobile home park at Dry Branch Road and Chime Bell Church Road south of Aiken. Ables said his office has not been called in on that case.
A newly released incident report on Tuesday revealed new details about that shooting.
An arriving deputy found the 3-year-old lying on a couch with a gunshot wound to his head area, according to the incident report. The child was still breathing and moving, according to deputies.
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The deputy saw a gun on the table area directly across from the couch. It had a shell casing jammed inside it. The deputy removed the magazine and secured the gun in a patrol car.
A deputy applied pressure to the boy’s head until emergency medical crews arrived and rushed the child to a hospital.
One person in the mobile home reported calling law enforcement after seeing the child with a gunshot wound, and another reported being awoken by the sound of the gunshot and then seeing the child wounded.
A NATIONAL PROBLEM
By the numbers: A look at the toll on kids
- From 2003 to 2021, there were more than 1,200 cases of children under 17 dying from gun violence, according to the CDC.
- Roughly 83% of these deaths occurred among boys.
- Children up to 5 years old ed for roughly 29% of unintentional firearm injury deaths.
- Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021.
- Everytown for Gun Safety, a national advocacy group that seeks to reduce gun violence, says Georgia has one of the highest rates of unintentional child shootings in the country.
Deputies say the case is under investigation, presumably to determine whether it was accidental and whether anyone will face charges.
The incident report lists two people as witnesses – a man born in 1999 who lives in the mobile home and a woman born in 2002 who is not a resident.
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The person who called law enforcement is a man also born in 1999 who lives in the mobile home.
And someone listed as a “suspect” in the report is also a resident of the mobile home, also born in 1999. The “suspect” is the same person who told law enforcement he was awoken by the sound of the gunshot.
The “suspect” has not been arrested, according to Aiken County jail records, and neither has anyone else listed in the report.
For that reason, we’re not reporting their names at this time.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The investigations: ‘We have to work on a theory’
- Capt. Eric Abdullah with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office says there’s a lack of answers because both shootings are ongoing investigations. Information like evidence and witness statements must be evaluated first.
- “We have to work on a theory,” said Abdullah. “We don’t want to be ahead of the game and say this is exactly what happened, because we only get one chance to get it right, we have to work on the facts and interpret those facts and present them. If it’s a criminal charge that needs to be made, we have to be able to present that to the local magistrate in order to obtain our search warrant.”
- Abdullah says right now, there are no charges in either shooting.
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