Waltham

Person charged with murder 1 month after fatal shooting in Waltham

Melanie Williams was previously charged with assault and battery on a household or family member after allegedly being seen hitting Zharia Wilcox-Ellis in a fight before Wilcox-Ellis was found dead

A second person has been arrested in the shooting of a woman found dead in an apartment complex parking lot in Waltham, Massachusetts, last month.

Kaire Holman, a 31-year-old from Quincy, was due in Waltham District Court Tuesday afternoon to face a murder charge in the fatal shooting of Zharia Wilcox-Ellis, 24, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said that two bullets recovered from Wilcox-Ellis' body after the Aug. 2 shooting matched a .380 firearm of Holman's.

Another person, Melanie Williams, was previously arrested on suspicion of assaulting Wilcox-Ellis, though no one was initially arrested in direct connection with the shooting. A not guilty plea was entered on Williams' behalf in court.

She lives in the apartment building, the Wright Apartments on Second Avenue, near where Wilcox-Ellis was found shot, and when she was previously arrested, prosecutors said she was seen on video hitting Wilcox-Ellis outside the building during a fight shortly before the shooting. They were formerly partners, prosecutors said in court.

"The video clearly captures this defendant strike Ms. Wilcox in the head and you can see Ms. Wilcox respond," a prosecutor said in Waltham District Court last month, adding that Wilcox-Ellis was already visibly bleeding before being struck and that, afterward, the people on the video walk off-camera.

The Middlesex County District Attorney's Office confirms Waltham police responded around 11:30 p.m. to a parking lot adjacent to an apartment building on Second Avenue and found a female victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.  Follow NBC10 Boston: https://instagram.com/nbc10boston https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston https://twitter.com/NBC10Boston

There was a heavy police presence outside the Wright Apartments well into the day in the hours after the shooting. People living in the area have said it was the last place they would expect to see gun violence.

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