A pregnant Black woman was shot 5 times by police officers in Missouri, fueling tension in a local community over Memorial Day weekend.
The shooting was reported on Friday night in Kansas City and involved several police officers.
Police reportedly said the woman and a man were fleeing an alleged carjacking. Reportedly, an eyewitness said the woman surrendered to police and showed them she was unarmed with her hands up, and told the officers she was pregnant when they instructed her to lay on the ground. The woman turned from officers and started moving away when the officers fired their weapons and struck her five times.
Cellphone video of the incident showed a woman laying on the ground in handcuffs bleeding after officers arrested her.
The incident is under investigation.
The woman was taken to a hospital where she was reportedly in stable condition. The health of her unborn child is unknown.
More about the shooting and history of issues facing this police department can be found here.
Opinion: Details and the circumstances surrounding this police-involved shooting are still developing but the most disturbing information is how the woman warned officers she was pregnant, yet they shot her multiple times after she didn’t follow their commands to lay down. Hopefully, the wheels of justice move swiftly for this woman and her unborn baby.
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