A baby was delivered from a California woman who was fatally shot during a series of violent incidents that ended with the death of the suspect during a weekend confrontation with a SWAT team, authorities and relatives said.
The baby was alive Tuesday morning, said Kern County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Angela Monroe.
Deputies were sent to a report of a shooting in Lamont, a small community surrounded by farm fields southeast of Bakersfield, at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. They found 34-year-old Audreyanna Rivera suffering from a gunshot wound.
“The woman was seven months pregnant; that child is currently being treated at a hospital,” authorities said. The investigation led to an Amber Alert being issued for a 2-year-old boy, who was found unharmed at 11:10 p.m. The statement did not say how the boy was related to the case.
A suspect and vehicle was found around 11:35 p.m. on a highway on the outskirts of Bakersfield, where deputies were met with gunfire. A SWAT team responded and exchanged gunfire with the suspect over a few hours before the suspect was declared dead around 4 a.m. Monday, the office said. No officers were injured.
The suspect was not immediately identified.
Lamont resident Martha Mejia, 46, told The Bakersfield Californian the shooting occurred at the home of her aunt and uncle, and that the suspect was a cousin, Javier Vidal, 36, and Rivera was his girlfriend.
Oralia Vidal, Javier Vidal’s aunt said the couple dropped by with their son to visit for Easter.
Mejia said she could tell Rivera likely wouldn’t survive but she and her daughter, Maria Mejia, 24, took turns performing CPR and checking her pulse for about 20 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
“We still did CPR for the baby,” Martha Mejia said. “That was our main concern.”