Teen charged with murder in NYE shooting death of mom and preborn baby

A teen in Saginaw, Michigan, is facing murder charges after authorities say he walked into a gas station on New Year's Eve and started firing, killing a pregnant woman and her preborn child.

Key Takeaways:

• Korvareon Smith faces a number of charges after police say he killed Kendall Berrington and her preborn child in a gas-station shootout.

• Berrington was due to give birth to her son, Roman, within weeks.

• Homicide remains a leading cause of death for pregnant women.

The Details:

Police say Korvareon R. Smith, 17, walked into the Marathon station at 1411 Court St. in Saginaw around 1:30 a.m. on December 31 and opened fire on a rival. In the process, he killed 19-year-old Kendall L. Berrington and her preborn child, a son she had named Roman.

Berrington, who was weeks away from her January 14 due date, had stopped in the store to buy a soda.

Brother of murdered Saginaw woman wants justice

“Immediately upon entering, [Smith] draws a pistol and gets into a shootout with another individual inside of the store,” prosecutors contended. “The instant offenses were callous acts of violence, and to say Defendant presents a severe danger to the community would be an understatement."

Also inside the store were a woman with her seven-year-old child, both of whom were inches from Berrington when she was killed.

Smith, who has a lengthy criminal history despite his young age, has been charged with open murder, assault with intent to murder, homicide-willful killing of an unborn quick child, discharging a firearm in or at a building and four counts of felony firearm.

He is being charged as an adult.

Zoom In:

Berrington's brother, Brent Morris, told ABC 12 that his sister had been excited to give birth to Roman.

"I was telling her that he was going to be my sidekick. I was excited, she was excited, everyone was excited," said Morris.

He also said he was happily supporting her through her pregnancy. "If you have to be a single mom, I know you can do it. You are really strong, one of the strongest women I know," he recalled telling her.

The Bottom Line:

Pregnant women are, unfortunately, often caught in the crosshairs of violence; homicide is one of the leading causes of death of pregnant women.

Despite its extremely liberal abortion laws, Michigan does recognize the homicide of an unborn child in cases like this one, acknowledging that there are two victims in this heinous crime.