Pregnant woman mown down as car attacked by men with assault rifles
A woman gave birth to a baby after she was fatally wounded when two men armed with assault rifles fired into a car she was travelling in.
The shooting fatally injured the passenger, Samya Gill, 22, who gave birth at a hospital before she died, police said in a news release.
Samya was eight months pregnant as the shots were fired in a busy Washington DC street, with her baby now in a critical condition as authorities hunt the murderers.
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Her mother revealed that she saw her new granddaughter on Friday (June 17) night, saying: “She’s beautiful,” and: “She’s just gorgeous. I just really hope they catch whoever did that to my daughter.”
A fundraising site has been set up to support costs for the new arrival, named Zailey, who was born by an emergency C-section..
(Image: nbc4)
The mother expresssed: “Unfortunately, she’s not in the best condition herself (but God)! This is really devastating for my family and a huge financial burden.”
The unidentified driver of the car suffered non-life-threatening wounds, police said. There were no details about his relationship to Samya.
Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Andre Wright, urging witnesses to come forward, said: “This is a brazen act,” adding: “You can’t do something as heinous as this, and the community not know something about it.”
Law & Crime said a surveillance video showed two men armed with assault rifles – one wearing a white hoodie with dark pants, the other wearing all dark clothing – get out of a white four-door sedan and fire into another vehicle before fleeing.
(Image: nbc4)
The victims’ car managed to travel about a mile before stopping in a busy commercial area.
Police have announced a reward of up to $25,000 (£19,500) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the shooding at 11:20am in the 300 block of 37th Street, Southeast.
Mr Wright said: “We know that this was an isolated event. We know that this vehicle drove into the block, passed several people that were out there in the community, got out and ran up to this vehicle, and fired into this vehicle.”
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