Man Charged In Shooting Death Of Pregnant Woman
Lionel Henderson Faces 2nd-Degree Murder Charge
POSTED: 12:08 pm CST November 23,
2009
UPDATED: 10:19 am CST November 24,
2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jackson County authorities have charged a man who has been accused in the shooting death of a pregnant woman and her unborn child.Lionel Henderson was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 25-year-old Ashley Thomas outside her apartment in the 1300 block of East Armour Boulevard.Thomas’s boyfriend, Darryl Pickens, was also shot in the incident and he remains in critical condition.Police said Monday that a third person was in the car when Thomas and her boyfriend were shot late Friday afternoon. Police said the two were sitting in the car outside their apartment building when a man got into the back of the vehicle for unknown reasons.Court documents said that's when Henderson and another man approached the car and opened fire. The man in the backseat fled the scene with a graze wound, police said.On Monday, the medical examiner said Thomas's unborn fetus -- a girl who she was going to name Amya, family members said, -- was viable at the time of the shooting."We're just grateful she is considered a human being and not a fetus," said the victim's father, Charles Thomas. "She was 9 months -- she was just waiting to be born."Ashley and Amya's funeral is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday.Police are still looking for the second man who they believe to be the shooter.
Previous Stories:
- November 22, 2009: Mother Reeling After Daughter, Unborn Child Shot
- November 21, 2009: Pregnant Woman, Unborn Child Killed In Midtown Shooting
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