A Florida woman allegedly shot her daughter while threatening a Lyft driver and passengers.
On Friday night in Miami-Dade County, Melissa Valbrum got into a dispute in a McDonald’s parking lot in the Pinewood neighborhood along Northwest Seventh Avenue, near 91st Street, according to Local 10.
Local 10 reports that Valbrum’s arrest report showed she threatened a Lyft driver and his three passengers shortly after 10 p.m. with a gun. Valbrum believed one of the passengers had pointed at her. During her threats, the gun accidentally discharged, shooting Valbrum’s daughter.
“A firearm was accidentally discharged by an adult female,” wrote Detective Andre D. Martin, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Valbrum claimed the gun was in her waistband, fell, and accidentally discharged. Just before the discharge, surveillance and phone video showed Valbrum knocking on the Lyft driver’s rear passenger window with a firearm in her hand, local police reported.
The passengers told police they were pointing, but the pointing had nothing to do with Valbrum; it was the passenger indicating to the others in their party that their vehicle had arrived.
Valbrum’s 15-year-old daughter was taken by Miami-Dade fire rescue personnel to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. Martin stated that the teenage girl’s condition was stable.
Valbrum was booked Saturday morning at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where she is facing four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of battery, and one count of inflicting personal injury or culpable negligence.
[Feature Photo via Miami-Dade County PD]
