DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — An expectant mother and her unborn child are dead after a shooting at a metro Atlanta apartment complex.
It happened along Peppertree Circle in DeKalb County.
The family of Shakiya Pridgen told Channel 2’s Tom Regan that they believe she was targeted by someone she knew.
Around 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday, someone fired about a dozen shots into a window where she was asleep with her children.
“I want the world to know that somebody took a blessing, a blessing from all of us,” Pridgen’s mother, Verdina Scott, said.
Standing in the rain, the family spoke lovingly of the young mother, killed along with her unborn son in a hail of gunfire early Tuesday morning.
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Someone opened fire from outside, bullets shattering her bedroom window, as she slept next to her two young children.
“Both of them just lost their mother, their only provider. They don’t understand what’s going on,” Scott said.
“She was a loving, sweet, caring person, with a good heart, and somebody took her life. My daughter,” Shakiya Pridgen’s father, Paco Pridgen said.
Paramedics rushed Shakiya to the hospital, where she died. Her unborn son, Kyren, also didn’t survive. His expected birthdate was in just two weeks.
“She had her whole life to live. She was just raising her children. She just moved into her first apartment by herself. She wanted to get married and settle down. She was going to church every day. She was doing everything a mother is supposed to do,” Scott said.
Shakiya’s mother said they will not collapse into their grief, and they will cherish memories of her while nurturing the children she leaves behind.
“We are a strong family. We are going to take care of her children and keep her name alive, and see justice for her,” Scott said.
Police have not identified a suspect in the deadly shooting.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with funeral arrangements and other expenses.
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