A Prince George’s County, Maryland, man has been arrested for the shooting death of his girlfriend, which police were told was self-inflicted.
Police arrested 19-year-old Jamal Speaks, of Palmer Park, in connection to last month’s death of his 18-year-old girlfriend, Saniyah Floyd. On April 7, police arrived at a home on the 13000 block of Buchanan Drive and found Floyd, of Capitol Heights, dead from a single gunshot wound.
Witnesses told police that Floyd accidentally shot herself. But an autopsy revealed that her injury could not have been self-inflicted.
Police said in a news release that Speaks bought the gun illegally and had been playing with it all day on April 7.
He fired the weapon one time and struck Floyd. He then placed the gun in Floyd’s hand to make it appear that she shot herself, police said.
Speaks admitted his involvement in Floyd’s death, police added.
He has been charged with first-degree murder and weapons charges.
Speaks had recently been featured by The Washington Post for his fight to get reinstated on the Ballou High School football team after questions of his enrollment eligibility surfaced, as Speaks was homeless at the time.
He eventually was allowed to play, and according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, had been recruited by Temple University to play football for them.
