A South Side man with a criminal background was charged this weekend in the shooting death of a pregnant Chicago teen, whose baby was delivered after her death.
Timothy Jones, 18, is known as a "stick-up man" in the area, according to the Chicago Tribune. When Charinez Jefferson, 17, was walking with friends in the 3000 block of West 64th Street last week, Jones reportedly approached and opened fire on the group, striking the pregnant teen several times.
Fire Department spokesman Will Knight told the Tribune last week that Jefferson was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition. Paramedics placed the teen on advanced life support while they worked to save her baby.
Doctors were able to save her baby boy, but he has been fighting for his life since his mother's death.
NBC Chicago reports that Jefferson also had a 1-year-old child, and was entering her junior year at Banner Therapeutic Day School.
"She begged the shooter not to shoot her because she was pregnant, and now a baby is clinging onto his life," Pastor Tavis Grant with the Rainbow Push Coalition said during a vigil last week, according to NBC Chicago.
Witnesses identified Jones as the gunman, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, though it is not immediately known why he reportedly began shooting at the group.
Watch Jefferson's mother and best friend discuss the tragic shooting here:
View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.
