Doctors kept pregnant gunshot victim alive for weeks. She died after giving birth.
Lindzie Wilson didn't have much time left after she gave birth.
The 25-year-old from Springfield, Ohio, had been on life support since March 1, when someone shot her multiple times — including once in the head at point-blank range, police say. The unknown assailant attacked Wilson outside her home, police told The Springfield News Sun, and first responders rushed the expectant mother to Miami Valley Hospital for treatment.
A Springfield Police report obtained by WHIO7 says that doctors at the hospital kept Wilson on life support "in order to save the life of her unborn child." She gave birth on April 21 and then died three days later.
PEOPLE magazine independently confirmed the news.
Jana Yates, who had a close relationship with Wilson for two decades, told the News Sun that her deceased friend gave birth to a healthy baby boy after 53 days in the hospital.
The boy was named Bailee, Yates said, and Wilson now leaves behind three sons in total. That's one reason why Yates says she wants police to capture her friend's assailant, who cops say remains on the loose.
“Lindzie didn’t do anything for someone to shoot a pregnant unarmed woman,” she told the Sun News. “It’s ridiculous how much people are cowards and I pray every day that they are caught.
“We want justice served for the cold-hearted person that did this to her,” she added. "They took her along with our hearts the day she was shot.”
It was the evening of March 1 when Wilson's assailant shot her three times from behind — once in the leg, another in the shoulder and a third in the back of her head, according to a GoFundMe page created on March 3 to cover medical expenses. Doctors gave the 16-week pregnant woman basically no chance of survival, the page read, but then there was a sliver of hope.
"[D]octors said there was no hope; Lindzie and her unborn child were going to die," the page read. "They told the family she might live 3 days and to say their final goodbye's.
"Miraculously Lindsey and her unborn baby both have strong heartbeats," it continued, "and Lindzie is not brain dead."
She managed to stay on life support for nearly two months before successfully giving birth and passing away. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office conducted an autopsy and determined that Wilson died from the gunshot wound in her head, according to WHIO.
No matter what happens, Yates said that she is confident that justice will be served.
“I can’t say what I really want to say about the murder but I will say they will pay, whether it be here on earth or at Heaven’s gates,” she told the Sun News. “I had an amazing best friend for 20 years and now our family has an amazing beautiful guardian angel watching over us.”
Police say someone shot another pregnant woman in Springfield in April, too. Travis Hypes is accused of shooting his 25-year-old pregnant girlfriend Lindsey Marsh in the head on Saturday and then running to his uncle's house with a stunning confession about the alleged murder.
First responders discovered that Marsh was at least 30 weeks pregnant — and rushed her to Miami Valley Hospital in a helicopter. Doctors performed an emergency C-section and delivered the infant, who survived, according to WHIO. Marsh, who was originally on life support, died later at the hospital, said Valerie Lough, spokeswoman for the city of Springfield.
Police chief Lee Graf said there's no reason to believe the shootings are connected.
“In a sense of unusual, I think more than anything it's tragic,” he told WHIO7. “... And also I would definitely say ... not connected, neither of these cases is connected to another.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 8:59 AM with the headline "Doctors kept pregnant gunshot victim alive for weeks. She died after giving birth.."