A 36-year-old Louisiana woman who was nine months pregnant was killed along with her unborn child when three teenagers opened fire on her car in an apparent case of mistaken identity.
Kerisha Johnson was found dead in her car after she was shot early Sunday morning while trying to pick up partygoers at a “teen party” in Baton Rouge, according to an arrest warrant.
“It was just senseless,” Deanna Williams, a childhood friend of Johnson, said. “She was an innocent person.”
Johnson was “due to give birth within several days.”
Police arrested three 19-year-olds in connection to the shooting: Marques Porch, Gregory Parker, and Derrick Curry.
From left: Derrick Curry, Marques Porch, Gregory Parker
Police said that Johnson was driving to the party when “several individuals” shot at her white sedan. The shooters apparently believed the car belonged to someone else.
A similar car had fired shots in the air while driving by the party earlier in the night, according to the warrant.
Johnson tried to get away but was fatally struck in the barrage.
According to the warrant, the three men were caught on camera “raising firearms, pointing them at the victim’s vehicle and then firing” before fleeing the scene.
They admitted to police that they were armed at the time of the shooting.
“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,” police wrote in the warrant.
Porch told police that he provided Parker and Curry with guns before the shooting. While fleeing the scene, Porch was shot by an unknown shooter and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The gunmen were each charged with second-degree murder and first-degree feticide, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department.
The three suspects were ordered held without bond during a court appearance on Monday, East Baton Rouge Parish Courthouse officials said. They are being held at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, jail records show.
Before his arrest, Porch worked as a corrections officer with the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office from June to November 2022. He returned to the sheriff’s office part-time as a transportation driver in February.
He was “immediately terminated” by the sheriff’s office on Sunday following his arrest.
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