Pregnant Phila. woman, shot in head, dies

Pregnant Phila. woman, shot in head, dies

By Sam Wood and Barbara Boyer

INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
A pregnant Germantown woman who was shot in the head Sunday night died early this morning at Albert Einstein Medical Center, police said.

Bobbi Booker, 26, was shot in her left temple as her live-in boyfriend exchanged gunfire with another man outside the couple's Queen Lane apartment in Germantown.

Booker, who was four-months pregnant, had been on life-support since the shooting.

Doctors were not able to save her four-month old unborn child, police said. Booker had two other young children.

Police charged her boyfriend, Michael Thomas, 26, and Lamar Johnson, 22, with two counts each of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated assault of a fetus.

"The shooting was as a result of her boyfriend . . . exchanging gunfire from the window with another male," Homicide Capt. James Clark said. "There was an argument beforehand with the victim's boyfriend and a couple of other males."

Booker, Clark said, was "just walking past her window" when she was shot. "It's just very, very tragic," he said.

Initially, police had been told that Booker was in her second-floor apartment and was hit with a stray bullet from a fight on a nearby playground.

Johnson, who was shot in the leg, was taken by his girlfriend to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. When police arrived, Johnson said he had been shot in Grays Ferry. Clark said police quickly determined that Johnson had lied and connected him to Booker's shooting.

About 9:40 p.m., Johnson and several others were in a fight with Thomas, who was getting badly beaten, Clark said. Thomas ran to the apartment he shared with Booker and her two children, 7 and 4, who were not home at the time, Clark said.

Clark said Thomas grabbed a shotgun and fired outside. Johnson fired back, and a bullet hit Booker.

The shotgun has been recovered. Police are still looking for the 9mm handgun they believe Johnson used.

Residents in the area said little yesterday as detectives continued investigating. Some said Booker was quiet and kept to herself.

There were bullet holes in the window of the apartment, and crime-scene tape remained in the area, which struggles with crime.

Less than four months ago, a teenager shot a Housing Authority officer at close range in the security booth of the Queen Lane Apartments. Police said the officer survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.