A Virginia teen has gone missing after her mother fired a warning shot in the air to fend off a group of boys that were assaulting the girl. Brianna Stewart has been missing since Sunday (Oct. 20), a day after her mother faced off against the boys Saturday night and fired her registered firearm to scare off the assailants.
Stewart, 15, was at her mother’s Woodbridge apartment when a girl visited their home accompanied by a group of boys. Lakisha Gaither, Stewart’s mother, told NBC Washington that her daughter was involved in an argument with other teenagers who lived in the complex which may have led to the Saturday night standoff.
From NBC Washington:
Later that night, Gaither decided to speak with the girl’s mother. When she arrived at an apartment complex in the 1900 block of Gable Ridge Turn, the group of boys who had come to her home earlier that day showed up again, she said, and this time, one of the boys punched her daughter in the face.
After seeing her daughter get punched repeatedly, Gaither said she took things into her own hands.
“Because I do open carry, because I’m a registered gun owner and I open carry everywhere I go, I walked out to the middle of the parking lot where I was away from everybody, not near anybody, the not near the buildings or anything, and I unholstered my weapon, held it straight up in the air and shot straight in the air, one shot, to get him off of my child and to break this group up,” Gaither said.
Gaither, 35, was arrested after police arrived on the scene for a misdemeanor charge of reckless discharging of a firearm; Gaither was released from jail soon after and no one was harmed.
Gaither sent her daughter to her mother’s home out of fear the boys would retaliate, but Stewart was reported missing at 8:30 last Sunday morning. Gaither was emotional over the whole ordeal.
“I don’t know if she’s OK; I don’t know if she’s safe; I don’t know if she’s hurt. There’s been no activity on her Facebook,” said Gaither.
Hit the following pages to see another Facebook photo of Stewart, Gaither’s mugshot from the weekend and more.
UPDATE: Gaither posted a status update on Facebook stating Brianna has been found.
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Photos: NBC Washington, Facebook, Prince William County Police
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