A nine-months pregnant Louisiana woman lost her life, along with her unborn child, in a shooting incident in Baton Rouge.
Three teenagers opened fire on 36-year-old Kerisha Johnson’s car, killing her.
The shooting occurred on Sunday morning when Johnson went to pick up some people from a party in Baton Rouge.
Baton Rouge Police said the shooting was an apparent case of mistaken identity. The shooters thought Johnson’s white car belonged to another person who they said had fired shots in the air while driving past the party earlier. Johnson tried to escape, but the fatal shots struck her.
Police arrested three 19-year-olds – Marques Porch, Gregory Parker, and Derrick Curry – over the senseless shooting. The suspects were caught on surveillance cameras firing several rounds into Johnson’s car before fleeing.
They told investigators after their arrest that they had guns at the time of the shooting and that they mistook Johnson’s car for another car from earlier that night where an occupant had fired into the air as it drove past the party.
The suspects have each been charged with murder in the second-degree and first-degree feticide. The teens are being held without bond at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
One of the suspects, Porch, was a corrections officer with West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for several months from June to November 2022. In February, Porch started working part-time as a transportation driver at the sheriff’s office.
He told the police that he supplied the two other suspects with firearms before the fatal shooting. The sheriff’s office immediately terminated him following his arrest on Sunday.
Johnson’s childhood friend Deanna Williams described the shooting as “senseless,” saying that Johnson, due to give birth in a few days, was an innocent person who did not deserve to die. The incident, part of hundreds of shootings in the US this year alone, highlights the increasing gun violence and the demand by many for stricter gun control measures.
