AKRON, Ohio — The scars on the stomach of Porsha Williams-Harris are a daily reminder of the shooting she survived this past February in front of her home in Akron's Ellet neighborhood.
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"It just makes it more real for me honestly to see it every day," Williams-Harris said.
She spent about three weeks in a hospital and underwent two surgeries following the shooting. A third surgery is scheduled for later this month.
"I was shot in my abdomen, and it went out my back. It hit my liver, my stomach, she told News 5. "I do feel like it was a close call. I feel like it was too close to death."
According to police, a neighbor identified as Armani Brent pulled the trigger. She was arrested and charged with felonious assault.
Akron police originally said a verbal dispute over a shared driveway led to the gunfire, but both Williams-Harris and Brent's attorneys have different versions of what happened just before 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 on Bender Avenue.
Williams-Harris said the suspect pulled up behind her in a car on Bender Avenue and yelled at the victim to move her car. That led to an argument before Brent went into her home, Williams-Harris said.
But Williams-Harris said Brent came back outside a few minutes later with a gun and shot her.
Williams-Harris, who works as an STNA, said she continues to have nightmares and flashbacks from the traumatic event.
"I had a panic attack in my driveway twice actually, and then when I'm doing simple things, I can close my eyes and I'm right back in the situation," she said.
However, Tim Hess, the attorney representing Brent, said things happened differently. He calls it a case of self-defense.
"The narrative that's being pushed by the family against her is that my client came out of the house guns blazing and started shooting, which is not the case," Hess said.
Hess said it was Brent who was attacked after she left the house to get a grocery bag out of her car.
"My client feared serious bodily harm or death when her face was trying to be smashed into the cement steps at the front of the apartment where she stays in, and she pulled her firearm and fired," Hess said.
Akron Deputy Chief Michael Miller said that at the time of the crime, investigators did not see this as a self-defense shooting.
"They were comfortable that the charge, or charges, that this young lady received were appropriate in this case," Miller said.
Court records show that Brent posted $25,000— ten percent of a $250,000 bond— to get out of jail. She was ordered to have no contact with the victim and is on GPS monitoring. She has work privileges, according to the court papers.
"I feel like letting her out and allowing her to work is insane, but it's not really in my control," Williams-Harris said.
Hess said Brent has moved out of the neighborhood.
"My client doesn't want anything to do with these people. She doesn't live at the same house," Hess said.
Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich released the following statement on Brent being out on bond: “Based on the requirements of Ohio law, the State did not have grounds to oppose the bond set by either the Municipal Court or the Court of Common Pleas. If Ms. Brent violates the conditions of her bond, particularly her no-contact order with the victim or the GPS conditions of her bond, then the State will take appropriate action to further protect the public.”
Brent is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on May 13.
