(BATON ROUGE, La.) — A pregnant woman was fatally shot after a group of teenagers allegedly fired at her car in an apparent case of mistaken identity, police said.
Kerisha Johnson, 36, was shot early Sunday while attempting to pick up people from a party in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police said.
Johnson, who was nine months pregnant and “due to give birth within several days,” was found dead inside her car by officers responding to reports of shots fired, according to an arrest warrant.
During their investigation, police found that the event was promoted as an Easter party, attended by mostly teens.
Detectives learned that Johnson was driving toward the party when “several individuals” began firing at her white sedan — believing she was someone who, driving a similar car, earlier shot into the air near the party, according to the warrant.
Johnson attempted to flee but was struck by gunfire, killing her and her unborn child, according to the warrant.
“It was just senseless,” Deanna Williams, a childhood friend of Johnson, told Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ. “She was an innocent person.”
The alleged gunmen were captured on video footage “raising firearms, pointing them at the victim’s vehicle and then firing,” before fleeing the scene, according to the warrant.
Baton Rouge police arrested three teenagers in connection with the shooting. Marques Porch, Gregory Parker and Derrick Curry, all 19, were charged with second-degree murder and first-degree feticide, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department.
They allegedly told detectives they were armed at the time of the shooting, according to the warrant.
“They all stated that they believed the white car was a vehicle from earlier in the night where [an] occupant had fired a round into the air as it drove past the teen party,” the warrant stated.
Porch allegedly told authorities he provided the firearms to the other two teens before the shooting, according to the warrant. He was shot but sustained non-life-threatening injuries while fleeing the scene, police said.
The three suspects were ordered held without bond during a court appearance on Monday, East Baton Rouge Parish Courthouse officials confirmed to ABC News. They are being held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, online jail records show.
Porch was, up until his arrest, a corrections employee with the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office. He was a corrections officer from June to November 2022, before returning as a part-time employee in February as a transportation driver, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson. He was “immediately terminated” on Sunday upon notification of his arrest, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
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