According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, a popular local model is dead and her friend is clinging to life at Grady hospital intensive care unit after both women fell from a window at the W Hotel early this morning.
Police say LaShawna Threatt (left) and Ciara Williams, a dancer, were play fighting at a party on the 10th floor of the posh W Hotel when they crashed through a window around 3:30 am. An external ledge 5 stories down broke their fall. Threatt died on the ledge, but Williams rolled off and fell an additional 5 floors to the ground. She remains in critical condition at Grady hospital.
Earlier in the evening, Threatt, a single mother of one, celebrated her 30th birthday with a small group of friends at an Atlantic Station restaurant. The party eventually moved to the roof of the nearby W Hotel on 14th street, and then to a hotel room on the 10th floor, according to friends.
Jomarys Castillo, a friend of Threatt’s who didn’t attend the party, told the AJC that Threatt was a local model who was well-known. “It was her 30th birthday and it was wonderful and fabulous, just like she was,” said Castillo.
Workers repair shattered glass on an elevated 5th floor ledge where Lashawna Threatt and Ciara Williams landed. Photos: JOHNNY CRAWFORD, JCRAWFORD@AJC.COM
“LaShawna is a mess, a silly goofball. She likes to playfight and tickle you,” added Passionate Chonvill, a friend of Threatt’s who also didn’t attend the party.
“They had just gotten in the hotel and were having a good time,” Chonvill said. “My friends who were there, said it was so random. They literally just fell out the window. They are two small girls and I am trying to figure out how the hell, two small girls could break a window like that.”
Another friend, who asked not to be identified, said friends who attended the party told her something was wrong with the window. “When they fell through, everybody in the room screamed,” she said.
In a statement to the AJC, hotel manager Michael O’Donohue said:
“The incident at the W Atlanta early Saturday is very tragic and our thoughts and prayers are with the woman who was injured and the family and friends of the woman who died in the fall. There is a police investigation underway and all information must come from the authorities.”
Originally posted on May 28, 2011 @ 6:39pm
