Ohio woman accused of kidnapping her children arrested after allegedly killing their father

Arriel Bryant was charged with aggravated murder after she reportedly argued with Richard Kelley, 35, on Monday.

Sep 12, 2018

Crime scene thegrio.com — (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

An 28-year-old woman was arrested in Cleveland, Ohio, after allegedly shooting and killing the father of her children and fleeing with their children, Fox 8 reports.

On Tuesday, Arriel Bryant, 28, at was found at a relative’s home and taken into custody and the two children—Armani Kelley, 8, and Anijah Kelley, 4— were with her and unharmed, Cleveland police said. However, as a precaution, the children were taken to an area hospital for evaluation.

Bryant was charged with aggravated murder. The charges came after she reportedly got into a verbal fight with Richard Kelley, 35 at his home on Monday, in the Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood, police said.

Bryant shot Kelley multiple times, police report and then put the kids in a car and fled the scene, sparking an Amber Alert and a manhunt.

Bryant does not have a record of any abuse case, where the children are concerned. However, she was convicted in 2009 for obstructing justice in the case of an armed robbery and shooting of a man on Bunnell Court in Cleveland, Fox 8 reports.

Her boyfriend at that time was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison for the robbery and shooting.

Justified Shooting?

While there’s no word on why Bryant shot the father of her kids, in a similar case last month, an Alabama woman shot and killed her estranged husband but claimed she was standing her ground in a city where the controversial law doesn’t apply, reports AL.com.

Jacqueline Dixon contends that her 44-year-old estranged husband Carl Omar Dixon charged at her in her driveway so she shot her spouse with a small-caliber handgun, killing him. Police arrived on the scene to find Carl Dixon unresponsive from a gun shot wound to the chest and he was pronounced dead, reports Police Chief Spencer Collier.

Jacqueline Dixon, 38, had an active protection order against Dixon from 2016 alleging that he was abusive, but Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson said the Selma woman failed to seek enforcement of the order during her marriage.