Former Florida Correctional Employee Allegedly Kills Boyfriend After He Tries To End Relationship

An ex-federal correction employee in Florida has been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing her boyfriend after he tried to leave her.

Atoya Holmes, 48, has been charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Verdell Goins in Miami Gardens on Sunday, police officials said. The shooting reportedly occurred when Goins, who had been dating Holmes for several years, tried to end their relationship, WTVJ reported.

The police responded to the shooting that occurred at the intersection of Northwest 197th Lane and Northwest 29th Court, and found Goins in the driver seat of his Jaguar SUV with two gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the arrest report, the couple had gone to a Miami Dolphin game and then to a friend’s house. Inside Goins’ SUV, they had reportedly got into an argument. Holmes told the police the argument escalated into a physical altercation, and Goins started hitting her. She added he didn't stop hitting her in spite of her telling him to stop.

Holmes said then she shot Goins multiple times, according to WTVJ.

The police recovered a handgun, which was left on the roof of the car, the arrest report stated.

A witness at the scene told the police Holmes had been upset with Goins because he wanted to end their on- and off-again relationship.

"He was a good guy man, he was a good guy. I know that for a fact. We played ball together from high school. I know he’s a good guy man so I'm just trying to figure out why she would do that to him. I know he isn't a violent person," Goins' cousin Tyrone told media outlet WPLG.

Holmes has been arrested and is being held at the jail without bond as of Monday, reported the outlet. It is unclear if she has been assigned an attorney.

This isn’t the first time Holmes had a brush with the law. In 2017, she allegedly shot her son several times when she was a federal corrections officer, said Miami-Dade police. The shooting led to the son’s hospitalization. It is unknown if she had been charged with the shooting of her son.

Last month, an Alabama man was arrested for allegedly shooting his pregnant wife twice in the head. The woman and her unborn son died following the shooting. According to the investigators, the couple argued after the woman found out her husband had been cheating on her. She then packed her bags and was in the process of leaving her husband, when he fatally shot her.