Baby Survives After Pregnant Mother's Murder
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Days after her traumatic birth, a premature baby's continued survival is helping her family cope with tragedy.
"It's a blessing. For her to still be here, to live through her mother," said LaJoyce Robertson, the little's girl aunt.
The baby's mother, Delashon Jefferson, died Sunday, after police say her boyfriend shot her in the back.
Court records show Lagarius Rainey had plead guilty twice before to aggravated assault against Jefferson, striking her with a gun in February 2016 and threatening her with one the following month.
Police say he confessed again Sunday to punching an eight-months pregnant Delashon during an argument.
"He ended up punching her in the face. She got to screaming," said Robertson.
Robertson said when she heard her sister's screams, she forced open a bedroom door and started fighting Rainey herself, until he suddenly pulled a gun.
"He just started shooting everywhere," she said.
LaJoyce says her fiancé, Daveron Sanders, walked in behind her and was hit twice in the chest, but survived thanks to a neighbor.
Marsha Ford, who once attended nursing school, says she saw Sanders run out of the house clutching his chest.
"I was the one who applied pressure to keep him from bleeding out," she said.
Jefferson, meanwhile, collapsed in the hallway of her home with her mother at her side comforting her until paramedics arrived.
"They were doing CPR on her, as we were going to the hospital," said Sharon Jefferson.
Dallas police say they discovered Rainey near the scene of the shooting. He admitted, they say, to opening fire, claiming he feared for his life when Jefferson's family came to her defense.
Jefferson, meanwhile, died at Baylor Medical Center, family members said. They are grateful, they say, to the staff there who saved her baby.
Family members say the baby is still fighting for her life and has suffered several seizures due in part to oxygen deprivation.
Relatives, though, have named her Delashon after her mother and plan to raise the child, mindful of the woman she never had a chance to meet.
"Tell her all about her mother. She just loved to smile, always quiet, never bothered anybody," said Robertson.
Rainey is now charged with murder.
