Days after a woman was found fatally shot in the parking lot of a Waltham, Massachusetts, apartment complex, her ex-girlfriend has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting her, authorities said.
No arrests directly connected to the shooting of the woman, identified Monday as 24-year-old Zharia Wilcox-Ellis, on Friday night have yet been announced, but Waltham police and the Middlesex District Attorney's Office said Monday that the investigation remained active.
Wilcox-Ellis' partner, Melanie Williams, was in court Monday afternoon to face the charge she was arrested on, assault and battery on a household or family member, authorities said. The 30-year-old lives at the apartment building, the Wright Apartments on Second Avenue, near where Wilcox-Ellis was found shot.
Williams was seen on video hitting Wilcox-Ellis outside the building during a fight shortly before the shooting, authorities said. The alleged assailant and victim were formerly partners, prosecutors said in court.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
A not guilty plea was entered on Williams' behalf in court on Monday.
"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, adding that Wilcox-Ellis was already visibly bleeding before being struck and that, afterward, the people on the video walk off-camera.
Investigators asked that anyone who saw anything unusual near the apartment building late Friday call police at 781-314-3550.
There was a heavy police presence well into the day Saturday outside the Wright Apartments.
People living in the area said it was the last place they would expect to see gun violence.
"This incident is just crazy," said Deedee Vestal whose boyfriend lives in the neighborhood. "What frame of mind is that person in to do this to someone? Take somebody's life like that? What are you thinking? What are you thinking? Like... it's just… I can't. I can't wrap my mind around it. I just can't. I just think it's awful."
Vestal says investigators were asking residents coming and going from the building if they know anything or saw anything. She says there are a lot of stories going around but mostly a lot of unanswered questions.
"There's families living in this building you know what I mean? So they're all like kind of freaked out," she said.
