Karrington "Jade" Smith, 17, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, announced she was pregnant in early December, and was due to give birth in June of this year.
Karrington Smith, a pregnant 17-year-old, had been in the passenger seat of a car Saturday when she was shot and killed by a bullet traveling through the car seat and striking her in the back, Louisiana authorities said.
A man in the backseat, Chad Blackard, 23, had been “playing with the handgun” when it discharged, according to an incident report obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
“While performing life-saving measures, the medical staff learned that the victim was approximately … [25] weeks pregnant,” authorities with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff Office said. “The victim and her fetus were pronounced deceased at the hospital.”
Before she succumbed to her injuries, Smith allegedly attempted to tell authorities that she was the one who shot the gun, The Advocate reported. Authorities, however, later determined that Blackard was the one who discharged the weapon.
Blackard had apparently been bragging about “how his gun outperforms the gun owned by” someone else in the car, according to the incident report.
The report went on to say that Blackard told detectives “he may have accidentally removed a portion of the gun from the holster and squeezed the trigger while he was readjusting it.”
Blackard's mom insisted the shooting was an accident. "It was a tragic accident. My son is a great young man. Never been in trouble," she wrote on Facebook. "My son was crying and trying to save her and he also cried... telling me he didn’t mean to and it was an accident."
Smith, who sometimes went by Jade, was a junior firefighter for the Pine Grove Volunteer Fire Department, according to a Facebook post.
She announced in a Facebook post that she was pregnant in early December, posting a sweet photo of a sonogram and onesie with the words “June 2022” with her partner. They had planned to name their baby Dallas.
Smith's loved ones are now raising money for her funeral expenses through a GoFundMe page.
"Jade always brought light into any situation and I have never seen her without a smile on her face," the organizer of the page wrote.
A donor who noted she was Smith's aunt commented, "R.I.P Jade Smith and baby Dallas.. Your Angels are waiting. As you fly high with other side of Family you let them know we miss each and everyone.. Kiss them for me."
Blackard is currently being held in jail on charges of negligent homicide, third-degree feticide and illegal use of a weapon. He does not yet have a court date listed.
