8-WOMAN BRAWL ERUPTS INTO GUNFIGHT THAT KILLS INNOCENT PREGNANT BYSTANDER

Pregnant mom-of-one, 27, is shot and killed after getting caught in crossfire from eight-woman gunfight

 

By Snejana Farberov 

Daily Mail

May 20, 2021

        Tamika Haynes and son

 

A pregnant mother was shot and killed while sat in her car close to an eight woman brawl that erupted in gunfire. 

The deadly confrontation took place just before 6pm Tuesday in the 1200 block of Valencia Avenue in Hemet, which is located 75 miles southeast of Los Angeles. 

Family members identified the 27-year-old who had been shot in the head and died after being flown to a county trauma center as Tamika Haynes. 

Haynes, who was known to her loved ones as 'Millie,' had an eight-year-old son and was three months pregnant with her second child. 

According to relatives, Haynes was sitting in a car and was an innocent bystander. 

'She has a lot of family, she’s very loved, and we don’t understand the details or anything,' Stevlyn Sandridge told KTLA. 'We don’t know anything about why she was killed and why was they shooting into a crowd of innocent people.' 

Haynes' family revealed that her senseless killing comes just one week after the victim's 13-year-old sister suddenly collapsed and died.  

Dispatchers in Hemet began receiving calls at 5.58pm on Tuesday about a group of women fighting and then calls reporting gunfire. The number of people involved was estimated at six to eight.

Officers found three adults with gunshot wounds at the scene and a Hemet hospital reported two more gunshot victims had made their way there. 

Video from the scene shows paramedics removing a wounded woman from a BMW and placing her on a stretcher. It remains unclear if that woman was Haynes. 

A male victim found at the scene with serious gunshot wounds to a leg and his back was taken to the same trauma center as Haynes. The third victim at the scene was taken to the Hemet hospital for treatment of a wound to his arm.

There were no further details about the other two victims, but they were expected to survive. 

Police described the incident as multiple shootings that 'took place at basically the same time,' but it is unknown how many guns were used. Witnesses reported hearing a dozen gunshots. 

As of Thursday, no arrests have been made and the motive remained unknown, according to police. Investigators said there was no immediate evidence that the shooting was gang-related. 

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help Haynes' family with her funeral expenses. The fundraiser's description described the mother as 'loving, encouraging, forgiving.' 

Carl Smith, the organizer of the campaign, wrote: 'If you knew Millie, you knew love. She was vibrant, had no judgement and took everyone in as family. She lifted everyone around her with generosity and a pure heart.' 

The mass shooting in Hemet is the latest in a wave of incidents involving gun violence that have swept the US.  

Major American cities experienced a 33 per cent increase in homicides last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, a financial crisis and nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism, according to a recent report produced by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and reported on by CNN in April.

The nation's three largest cities - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago - continued seeing high rates of violent crime in the first three months of 2021.