A 25-year-old woman in Spartanburg was sentenced Thursday to 21 years in prison after a jury convicted her of voluntary manslaughter in the 2023 shooting death of her boyfriend.
Zaria Aiyanna Owens was also given a concurrent five-year term for possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The convictions stem from the August 2023 killing of 21-year-old Tyquirez Rashad Sims outside an apartment complex on College Pointe Lane.
Prosecutors said Owens and Sims argued over her moving out. She took his gun and phone. When Sims followed her to the car with her three-year-old son, Owens shot him once in the head from several feet away. The child was unharmed.
Owens initially claimed self-defense but later told police she fired after the boy stumbled. She turned herself in the next morning. Deputy Solicitor Spenser Smith called the case a tragic instance of domestic violence that affected two families and two young children.