3 teens killed pregnant woman ‘due to give birth within several days’ in tragic case of mistaken identity: Police

Derrick Curry, Marques Porch, Gregory Parker(Baton Rouge Police Department)

Three 19-year-old men in Louisiana were arrested over the weekend after they allegedly shot and killed a pregnant woman and her unborn child in a tragic case of mistaken identity . Marques Porch, Gregory Parker and Derrick Curry were all arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree feticide in the “senseless” slaying of 36-year-old Kerisha Johnson, authorities announced.

According to a brief press release from the Baton Rogue Police Department, Johnson was in her car at about 12:30 a.m. on April 16 on her way to pick up several people from a party in the North Carrollton area when the incident took place. While driving in the 1000 block of North Carrollton Avenue, Johnson sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead on the scene while still inside of her vehicle, police said.

A copy of the probable cause affidavit obtained by The Advocate reportedly states that Johnson was nine months pregnant and “due to give birth within several days” when she was fatally shot.

Investigators reportedly said that security footage from the area showed a car parked across the street from where the party was taking place with several people standing outside of the vehicle and conversing as Johnson approached in her white sedan. When the people socializing across the street from the party saw Johnson’s car, they can reportedly be seen crouching, then raising handguns and opening fire on Johnson. After Johnson was struck, the shooters got in the vehicle and fled the scene, per the Advocate.

Partygoers and other witnesses at the scene identified the alleged shooters to investigators who were able to pick them up quickly and bring them in for questioning. All three suspects allegedly told detectives that they believed that Johnson’s car was actually the same vehicle that had driven by the gathering earlier in the night and fired multiple shots into the air as it passed the party, police reportedly wrote in the affidavit.

“Through the course of investigation, we believe that the person who was shooting at her thought that she was the person who had just fired the multiple shots,” Police Sgt. L’Jean McKneely told Baton Rouge CBS affiliate WAFB. “She was not.”

Porch, a part-time corrections officer for the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office and the owner of the car the suspects allegedly used to flee from the shooting, allegedly admitted to detectives that he provided Parker and Curry with the firearms used in the shooting. The Advocate further reported that Porch told police he arranged to have someone pick up the guns and get rid of them.

Porch was fired from his position with the sheriff’s office on Sunday following his arrest.

“It was just senseless,” Deanna Williams, a childhood friend of Johnson, told Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ . “She was an innocent person.”

All three suspects were booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, online jail records show. They appeared before a judge on Monday who ordered the trio to remain in pretrial detention without bond.

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