Pregnant woman killed in Berkeley drive-by shooting

BERKELEY, Calif. (KRON) - A Berkeley family is shattered Thursday night after a pregnant woman was shot and killed. 

The drive-by shooting happened Wednesday night on Prince Street near Malcolm X Elementary School. 

The family says the 19-year-old victim died this morning after being shot in the head. 

The family tells KRON4 this was a heartbreaking and senseless killing. They're hoping whoever is responsible is found.

Meanwhile, Berkeley as a whole is seeing an uptick in gun violence.

As city leaders grapple with ways to solve the problem, balloons float, and candles lay where the Berkeley woman was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.

The victim, 19-year-old Serenity Henderson, a mother of a 9-month-old, was also expecting another baby.

Henderson was shot while driving along Prince Street near Malcolm X Elementary School.

Her family says her mother and 9-month-old child were in the car. Police say more than a dozen shots were fired. No one else was hit.

“Senseless murders just need to stop,” Rainie Wooten said.

Rainie Wooten remembers her cousin Serenity as an affectionate and caring person.

“Always make you smile, always happy to see you. Always wanted to be around and have fun.  She was a young girl,” Wooten said. 

While embracing family members near the curbside vigil, Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett is calling for the recent rise in gun violence to stop.

“This issue is bigger than this neighborhood and it's bigger than this city. That's why the mayor and I are launching a regional task force to tackle gun violence because enough is enough,” Bartlett said.

Bartlett says the task force would bring community leaders in Berkeley and nearby cities, such as Oakland and Richmond together to address the gun problem.

Henderson's family is hoping for answers.

“We gotta stop the violence in America. They say Black Lives Matter, it doesn't matter because we killing each other. So what we gonna do? We gotta save each other's life,” Yolanda Small said.

Police have not made any arrests in this shooting. 

So far, this year at least 4 people have been shot and killed in the city compared to last year when one person was killed. 

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from KRON4 https://ift.tt/37wgnyD