Funeral services are set for the model who plunged to her death from a W hotel window early Saturday. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the funeral for LaShawna Threatt, 30, will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at World Changers Church in College Park.
A fundraiser has been set for Wednesday from 7 p.m to 10 p.m. at the Aurum Lounge, 915 Peachtree Street, to help defray costs of the service.
Threatt’s best friend, Cierra Williams, 25, who also fell when the two women were play fighting in a hotel room on the 10th floor, is in critical but stable condition in the ICU at Grady hospital.
Williams suffered multiple broken bones and reportedly underwent surgery to have her face reconstructed.
The women crashed through the glass and plunged 5 floors onto an elevated slanted glass platform 5 floors above the hotel’s front doors. Threatt died on the steel platform, while Williams landed on the thick, high impact plexiglass and rolled down the glass before free falling another 20 feet (2 stories) to the ground.
Threatt’s longtime boyfriend, Ray Hamilton, 40, had booked the luxury hotel room for her 30th birthday celebration.
The well-known party promoter and club owner also organized a dinner party for Threatt and her friends at a restaurant in Atlantic Station earlier in the evening. The party eventually moved to the roof of the W Hotel and then to the room on the 10th floor.
Friends who attended the party said there was something wrong with the window that is designed to withstand hurricane force winds.
But according to CNN, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said their investigation would not include looking into the safety of the hotel windows. Instead, they are investigating whether there was any criminal activity involved in this incident.
According to Hamilton, there was no criminal activity in the room. Hamilton told the AJC that he along with Threatt, Williams and 6 others were in the room at the time of the accident.
“Everybody had just walked in and kicked off their shoes,” he said. “There was no unruly activity, there was no one drunk, there was no party in the room,” he said.
Hamilton and another friend were standing next to Threatt and Williams, who were near the window, horseplaying, tickling each other and hugging, Hamilton said.
Williams’ back was to the window, and Threatt was standing in front of her, Hamilton said.
“They leaned back a little bit, and they just went out,” he said.
Another friend in the room tried to grab Threatt’s arm.
Hamilton cut his hand on the glass while trying to hang on to his girlfriend to stop her from falling. Bleeding, he ran to the elevator and then outside.
“I come out of the door, see someone on the floor, and I just drop to the ground … I crawled over to her, covered her and said, ‘Hey, baby, stay with me, it’s going to be OK,” said Hamilton before he realized that the woman on the ground was Williams.
He stood up to look for Threatt but by that time Atlanta police officers had arrived.
“It’s been a nightmare for me,” Hamilton said. “How do two girls who weigh maybe 120 pounds a piece, standing at the window, build up enough force to not only break it but go out immediately?” Source
Threatt leaves behind a 15-year-old daughter. Police are waiting for toxicology results to see if alcohol played a factor.