An unborn baby has been killed in what South Carolina police have described as a “senseless” shooting.
Greenwood police were alerted to reports of shots being fired at Cardinal Glen Apartments at about 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, December 20.
Police said a man tried to get into a vehicle that two women were sitting in when someone approached them with a long gun and started shooting at the occupants.
One woman, who was nine months pregnant, was shot in the back and the man was shot in the leg. Both victims were taken to a nearby hospital.
Greenwood Chief of Police T.J. Chaudoin said in a Wednesday, December 21, Facebook update said when officers arrived they found spent shell casings.
“There were some witnesses there and they (police) started blocking everything off and the actual crime scene ended up being a lot wider than what we thought,” Chaudoin said.
“The unfortunate thing about this incident is the young lady that was shot in the back was nine months pregnant. And because of this incident, she lost her child. So, now we are dealing with a homicide of an unborn child,” he added.
Both victims were in a stable condition, Chaudoin said. He said a suspect, who he named as 21-year-old Javier Williams, had been arrested and charged with murder over the death of the unborn child. He was being held at the Greenwood County Detention Center.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, a database that collects information about shootings from across the country, five people in Greenwood have been shot dead since January 1 this year. Tuesday’s fatal shooting was the first gun-related fatality in the city since October 9.
Chaudoin called for a halt to “senseless” violence, saying: “The same thing that we deal with, you know, guns, drugs and young people. And it just goes back to ‘this is just senseless.’ Absolutely 100 percent senseless. This has got to stop.”
He added: “This case is nowhere near being over. I 100 percent expect other arrests to be made somewhere down the road.”
Newsweek has contacted the Greenwood Police Department for further comment.
In November 2021, a 32-year-old pregnant woman was shot in the head and stomach in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The victim was reportedly leaving her baby shower when she was shot. Her car was full of presents at the time of the shooting.
Christine Coulter, the deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, told WPVI at the time: “I mean, the person that did this couldn’t be more cowardly.”