A 23-year old Tucson man is in the Pima County Jail being held on $100,000 bond, charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of his 22-year old live-in girlfriend. Anthony Sylvia claims that he was just playing with his .22 caliber handgun when it accidentally went off and the bullet struck Danielle Mason in the eye on Monday, April 28.

Courtesy of Tucson Police Department

Sylvia

The shooting took place in their apartment on North Stone Avenue between Glenn and Grant. Mason was hospitalized at UMC in critical condition until Monday, May 5, when she died of her injury. Sylvia was then arrested by Tucson police on May 6.

Carolyn Johnson, who is the grandmother to one of Mason’s three children, says Mason had a lot of problems in her life. She was deserted by her mother, was molested as a child, did drugs, and worked as a prostitute. But Johnson says she didn’t deserve to die.

“Her spirit emotionally, physically and sexually was broken at an early age, and it’s important that we know that she was not just another person shot in Tucson,” Johnson says.

 Johnson is speaking out in the hopes of helping anyone with similar problems to turn their life around. She says that’s what Mason was apparently trying to do. Johnson now has full custody of Mason’s daughter. Mason’s other two children live in different homes.