By CRA News Service
More than two months after a man was shot and killed in an apparent accidental shooting while he was hanging out with friends in Boca Raton, police have charged two of those friends with his death.
Police investigators determined that Erin Steele, 20, and Joshua Henry, 23, were responsible for the Dec. 1 shooting of Justin Holt at Gables of Town Place Apartments, 21445 Town Lakes Drive.
Police arrested both at their homes in Pompano Beach and charged them with manslaughter by culpable negligence
Investigators say that Madison Flint and her friend Henry were hanging out in her apartment when two other friends Steele and Justin Holt came over.
Henry, according to police, brought a handgun to the apartment and was showing it to the group.
Investigators say that the group was dry firing or firing the empty pistol.
At one point, Henry re-loaded the gun and put it on a counter, according to police. Later that night, Steele picked up the gun and fired it at Holt, her boyfriend, police said. Holt was shot in the chest. Everyone present gave the same version of events, police reported.
Holt was taken to Delray Medical Center where he later died.
Police said Steele had smoked marijuana earlier in the evening and had a high level of THC in her system.
Henry and Steele were being held without bond in the Broward Jail, awaiting transfer to Palm Beach County at presstime.
Shortly after the shooting, Holt’s family said they thought it was accidental and harbored no bad feelings for Steele. But upon learning she and Henry had been charged, Holt’s grandfather, Michael DiFiore, called the news a surprise and said the family had no comment.
“We’re just going to let things happen as they happen,” DiFiore said.