A South Carolina woman was sentenced to prison time after she shot and killed her boyfriend in front of her 3-year-old son after he made her move out of his apartment.
Zaria Aiyanna Owens was found guilty on Thursday, July 16, on counts of voluntary manslaughter and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime over the August 2023 death of Tyquirez Rashad Sims.
After the jury found her guilty, Owens, 25, was sentenced to serve 21 years in prison on the voluntary manslaughter charge. She was also sentenced to an additional five years in prison for the weapon possession charge, which the court determined would run concurrently.
Owens learned her fate after the incident took place outside of an apartment complex in Spartanburg before 9 p.m. on August 22, 2023.
Prosecutors said that a friend told investigators that the couple had been arguing after Sims, 21, asked Owens to move out of his apartment, according to a courtroom report from WSPA.
The argument escalated and Owens took Sims’ gun and phone away from him, and he followed her to her car.
Owens and Sims’ fight only continued to escalate, and she pointed the gun at him. Sims then went back inside the apartment before he returned with the defendant’s 3-year-old son. Sims took the boy over to Owens’ car so she would leave, but Owens aimed the gun at him and fired the weapon.
After she shot Sims, Owens got her son and fled the scene in her car. Police later found the vehicle at an apartment complex, while Owens turned herself in to police the following morning.
While speaking to investigators, Owens initially tried to claim she shot Sims in self-defense. However, she eventually said she was reaching for her son when she saw Sims push the child toward her and the toddler stumbled. Owens then admitted to picking up the gun and shooting Sims.
First responders found Sims dead at the scene and reported that he had been shot one time in the head. Prosecutors stated during the trial that Sims was several feet away from the shooter at the time she discharged the weapon.
Sims was a new father at the time of his death, with his child being just 6 months old.
Following his death, Deputy Solicitor Spenser Smith shared that Sims came from a tight-knit family.
“Tyquirez had a loving family and had become a father several months before his death,” Smith said, per the outlet. “This is a tragic case of domestic violence that has impacted two families and two young children.”
Smith continued, “Ms. Owens killed Tyquirez Sims in front of her son and now that child will grow up without his mother.”
