JACKSONVILLE, Fla -- A drive-by lie. A mother claimed her daughter was shot in a drive-by and now she's in jail for making the whole thing up.
Police say Whitney Toliver admitted to lying. She said she did it for fear of an investigation by Department of Children and Families. Neighbors around Merivale Road, where it happened, say this isn't a surprise.
Charlotte Platt keeps a close eye on her granddaughter as she plays outside. She says there's too much that goes on down the street where the shooting happened.
Police say Whitney Toliver told them someone in a Dodge Charger fired shots at the house over the weekend, hitting her 2 year old daughter twice. Days later, though, she admitted she lied about the whole thing.
"Two year old Jontasia Miller was accidentally shot by another child while at the house," said Assistant Chief Thomas Hackney.
Detectives are still looking for the gun and weren't happy Toliver lied to them.
"The time we expended dealing with the lies the mother told us time we could've much better spend trying to recover the gun in this case," he said.
Investigators say this drive-by lie created unnecessary panic in the community.
The little girl is out of the hospital, with just a bandage on her hand. She was shot twice. Toliver is charged with filing a false report. It's a misdemeanor and she could face up to a year in jail and a thousand dollar fine. JSO says Toliver has no prior arrests.
