A Little Rock, Arkansas woman says her Martin Luther King holiday was marred by a drunken champion boxer who threatened to kill her entire family.
The NY Post reports middleweight boxing champion Jermain Taylor threatened to shoot Toya Smith’s husband and their 5-, 3-, and 1-year-old children at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on Monday.
Smith, 40, said she was watching the MLK parade with her family when Taylor stepped out of the crowd, showed her his championship belt and offered to take a picture with her son.
Smith, who did not know who Taylor was, said he had alcohol on his breath.
“He bent down to give my son the belt and he almost fell over and dropped the belt, and he thought my baby dropped the belt,” Smith said.
She said Taylor produced a handgun and fired 2 shots into the air. He then leveled the gun at her husband’s head and threatened to shoot him. Smith said she knocked the gun out of Taylor’s hand just as it went off, injuring her husband’s ear.
“He put (the gun) up against his temple, I jumped in front of it and it went off up into the air,” Smith said. “He was going to shoot him, but I saw it, he was going to kill him and I had to hit the gun.”
Taylor said she shielded her children with her body when Taylor turned the gun on them.
“He was pointing at the kids, so I jumped in front of him again and said ‘Please don’t shoot my kids,’” Smith said.
She said Taylor cursed at her and told her he didn’t care about her kids. Smith said she and her family tried to get into their car and drive off, but Taylor pointed his weapon at the car. Smith said she and her children were unable to sleep and cried most of the night.
Taylor, who is also wanted for shooting his own cousin in August 2014, was arrested without incident and a gun was recovered. He is being held on aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a minor and drug possession charges.
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