NEW YORK, USA — The woman accused of killing a Jamaican woman during a dispute inside a Brooklyn nightclub in the United States last month has indicated that she is innocent.
Deonne Kirkland, 44, was charged with the August 28 fatal shooting of 44-year-old Tarcia Lysius, more popularly known as 'Tanney' or 'Tanney Frenchie', who resided in Southside, Central Kingston, before moving to the United States.
Lysius, a patient care professional and event promoter, lived in East New York, some distance from where she was killed.
After weeks on the run, Kirkland was nabbed on Thursday and booked with the murder.
In handcuffs while being escorted by two officers to a police vehicle, Kirkland seemed unfazed by her arrest when she was briefly questioned by reporters on Thursday.
She was asked whether the video tape allegedly showing her shooting Lysius was doctored, she casually responded: "Yes ma'am, and I am innocent."
She added: "All five of them (videos)."
To the grieving family members who days ago expressed outrage that she had not been arrested, Kirkland said: "I'm sorry for their loss."
She was then placed inside a police vehicle.
The incident was reportedly caught on surveillance video inside the Hearts of Love Nightclub, where Lysius was shot once in the head allegedly by a woman dressed in white about 5:10 am on August 28.
Social media videos of the incident showed a woman in white flicking a cigarette butt at Lysius, who then took it up, threw it back on the ground, before arming herself with a glass bottle and advancing at the woman.
The video apparently was cut at that instance, and it later resumed with a firearm being pulled.
In another social media video, paramedics were seen trying to revive Lysius inside the club after she was shot. However, she was pronounced dead at hospital.
Kirkland is expected to be arraigned before the Brooklyn Criminal Court late Thursday.
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