SUV gunman shoots, kills pregnant woman on West LA street

Pregnant woman shot to death on West LA street

LOS ANGELES — A pregnant woman sitting in a parked car in a West Los Angeles residential area was shot to death Wednesday by a gunman who pulled up in a sport utility vehicle and opened fire on a group of people, police said.

“The car drove up, shots rang out,” Capt. Evangelyn Nathan said. “When shots rang out, they started ducking and running. When the shots were over, they discovered our victim had been hit.”

Witnesses saw the gunman in the South Robertson area approach 26-year-old Jana Collins, her husband and friends and shot her in the head, police said. Witnesses said the suspect jumped into the SUV and fled. There were no reports of any arrests.

Officer Sara Faden said the woman, 26-year-old Jana Collins, was taken in a private car to Kaiser Permanente Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She was about four months pregnant, and the fetus also died.

Police Lt. Tony Carranza told the Los Angeles Times that investigators believe the victim’s husband, a suspected gang member, was the intended target. He had stepped out of the vehicle shortly before Collins was shot.

KNBC-TV said Collins worked at Starbucks, had recently gotten married and was the mother of two children.