Florida police: Woman shoots drivers, says God told her to because of the eclipse

In this composite of seven photographs, the moon passes by the sun during a total solar eclipse in Bloomington, Indiana, on April 8, 2024. This year’s path of totality is 115 miles (185 kilometers) wide and home to nearly 32 million Americans, with an additional 150 million living less than 200 miles from the strip. The next total solar eclipse that can be seen from a large part of North America won’t come around until 2044. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP)

BONIFAY, Fla. — A woman checked out of a Florida hotel and told staff that she was going on a God-directed shooting spree because of the solar eclipse, then shot two drivers on Interstate 10 before being arrested and charged with attempted murder Monday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Taylon Nichelle Celestine, 22, of Georgia, entered the highway 115 miles (180 kilometers) from the Alabama border in the Florida Panhandle and headed west. Within 5 miles (8 kilometers), she fired into a passing car several times, spraying auto glass and grazing the driver in the arm, the department said in a statement.

She then fired at a second vehicle, hitting the driver in the neck. The driver was injured and treated at a hospital.

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This image provided by the New York State Police shows an Airstream trailer in Brownville, N.Y. Monika Woroniecka, a Long Island doctor, who was headed to upstate New York to see the solar eclipse with her family, fell out of the moving trailer on a highway and died, Saturday, April 6, 2024, authorities said. | New York State Police via AP

Doctor dies after falling off a moving trailer

Earlier in New York, on Saturday, April 6, a Long Island doctor who was headed to upstate New York to see the solar eclipse with her family fell out of a moving trailer on a highway and died. This was according to authorities.

Dr. Monika Woroniecka, 58, a pediatrician at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital who specialized in immunology, was riding in the 2024 Airstream trailer along with members of her family on Saturday, April 6, for the last 20 minutes of their trip to see the eclipse, the New York State Police said in a news release. Woroniecka’s husband, Robert Woroniecki, was driving the pickup truck that was hauling the trailer.

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The wind blew the trailer’s door open as the family was headed west on Route 12E in the town of Brownville and Woroniecka was thrown from the trailer, police said.

Woroniecka hit her head on the shoulder of the road, police said. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.

Dr. Susan Schuval, chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Stony Brook, said in a statement that Woroniecka “was known for her calm demeanor, kindness, and dedication to her patients.”

It is against state law to ride in a “house coach trailer” such as the family’s Airstream while it is hitched to a vehicle traveling on the road.