Police have shot an unarmed pregnant woman five times while trying to flee a suspected car theft, it was reported.
A horrified witness claimed Missouri cops shot the woman on Friday night despite the woman yelling that she was unarmed and pregnant.
Shédanja, who witnessed the incident, can be heard screaming in the video: “They shot her” Oh my God, they shot her!”
She added: “Oh my God, they shot her and they still putting her in handcuffs!”
Police told KCTV that Leonna Hale, 26, was shot by cops responding to reports of armed car theft at 8pm. Leonna was with a male driver who fled when the officers pulled them over.
She was shot as she was trying to flee from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
She is said to be in a stable condition in hospital, report Mirror Online. Officers say they are investigating the shooting.
The witness who filmed it claimed on Facebook that before she started running she “put her hands up and was talking to them to show she didn’t have a weapon in her hand”.
Shédanja, also told the Kansas City Star that Leonna had refused to get on the ground because she told police she was pregnant.
She said in the video: “She was gonna cooperate, she got scared, she ran down there and they shot her … it ain’t right!”
Shédanja adds that Leonna warned there was a gun in the car and insisted she did not pull a weapon on police.
Police later confirmed they found a handgun nearby.
Shédanja told The Star: “She did not even have a stick in her hand. One, two, three, four, five. I remember it because it didn’t stop. They shot five times.
“I remember seeing her hit the ground and I froze,” she said, adding her sons — ages 1, 10 and 13 — were all traumatised from seeing it, too.
The Kansas City Police Department’s interim police chief, Joseph Mabin, told local news said: “We never want to be in these types of situations. Not the public, as a police department.
“Anytime it happens is a blight on our community. I want to ensure the public the scene is secure. There’s no ongoing threat.
“We’re committed to being 100% transparent. This is a holiday weekend. It’s time for friends. Not a time for violence.”
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