A 34-year-old woman who was seven months pregnant, was shot multiple times by an employee in the parking lot of a Walgreens store in East Nashville.
An investigation into claims of self-defense is underway after the shooting resulted in an emergency cesarean section being performed to deliver her premature baby.
The Walgreens employee reported to Metro police that two women were seen shoplifting items from the store located on Gallatin Avenue in East Nashville.
Police said Mitarius Boyd, 21, claims he fired his semi-automatic in self-defense because he said “he was in fear” and didn’t know if 24-year-old Travonsha Ferguson and another woman she was with were armed.
As the women were leaving the store, he followed them and recorded them with his cell phone as the women were putting items from a store cart and a large over-the-shoulder bag into the trunk of their car.
The employee claimed that as he moved towards the back of the car, one of the women allegedly sprayed mace at him so he drew his semi-automatic pistol and shot the pregnant woman multiple times.
Claiming self-defense seems absurd, since the Walgreens employee admitted that he was unsure if either woman was armed. Police appear to be taking it seriously, because an investigation is underway regarding the employee’s self-defense claim.
The pregnant woman’s companion left her at General Hospital and drove away.
The shooting victim was then transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where an emergency C-section was performed to deliver her baby, who was unharmed by the gunfire.
Both the mother and her baby are in critical but stable condition.