(NationRise.com) – The Florida Highway Patrol said on April 8 that officers arrested and charged a woman with attempted murder who shot at two drivers on the transcontinental highway Interstate 10 because God told her to execute a massive shooting. In a statement, the department explained that 22-year-old Taylon Nichelle Celestine revealed her plans to staff members of a hotel where she was staying, allegedly telling them that God wanted her to commit the atrocious act in response to the solar eclipse.
Officials detailed that Celestine entered Interstate 10 in the Florida Panhandle, 185 kilometers from Alabama’s border, and then drove west in her Dodge Challenger. The department added that the 22-year-old woman fired at a passing vehicle numerous times, hitting the driver in his shoulder. Celestine then shot at a second vehicle and hit the driver in his neck, who was eventually taken to a hospital to receive urgent treatment.
Officials said that Celestine had in her vehicle a 9-millimeter pistol and an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. Police officers stopped her after she drove nearly 24 kilometers away from the scene. The 22-year-old woman was formally charged with improper discharge of a gun, aggravated battery with a firearm, and attempted murder.
Florida wasn’t in the path where the total solar eclipse was visible.
According to some reports, police departments in many countries around the world tend to be on alert every time there’s an eclipse event, as some people come out to commit crimes for numerous reasons. These include the belief in conspiracy theories and religious disinformation.
Researchers explained in a letter that the United States experienced a massive spike in deadly car crashes during the 2017 total solar eclipse, which was the last of its kind that the country watched before the one on April 8. In addition to Celestine’s crime, it remains unclear if other types of incidents happened across the country, or if car crashes increased after the eclipse.
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