HollyMatkinTucson, AZ – Doctors were able to successfully deliver the baby of a 19-year-old pregnant woman who was fatally shot as she slept in her bed on Saturday.
According to a statement released by the Tucson Police Department (TPD), Jasmine Vega and several other people were asleep when an unknown assailant opened fire on the outside of the home.
Vega, who was six months pregnant at the time of the attack, began to scream, waking the other occupants in the house.
She then fell “unresponsive,” police said.
Officers and members of the Tucson Fire Department (TFD) responded to the residence at 4:30 a.m., and “observed the victim with obvious gunshot trauma,” the TPD said.
Emergency personnel attempted to provide lifesaving aid, and transported Vega to a nearby hospital.
Shortly thereafter, the woman was pronounced dead.
“Hospital staff were able to successfully deliver her unborn child, who is currently being treated at the hospital,” the TPD said.
The baby boy’s father, 18-year-old Anthony Rivera, said that his son is in critical condition, and is on life support, KMSB reported.
“All I was thinking is, ‘I wish your mom was right here to see you,’” Rivera recalled.
Jasmine’s friends and family told KMSB that she was kind, compassionate and so excited to be a mom.
“She was amazing,” Rivera said with a said smile. “She was outgoing, fun, loving, and [had a] big heart.”
With his girlfriend gone and his child fighting for his life, Rivera is relying on his family for support.
“No one would want to wake up to their loved one dying there on the side of them,” Rivera told KMSB.
“I’m not going to lie to him and say everything’s going to be ok, because it’s not,” Rivera’s mother, Angelina Ruelas said.
Investigators located several bullet holes in the walls of the residence, and evidence at the scene suggested that the gunfire came from outside the home, police said.
Detectives are working to determine whether or not someone in the home was specifically targeted by the shooter.
No suspects have been identified or taken into custody, and the TPD Gang Unit continues to investigate, police said.