Jennifer Montejano

Woman Delivers Healthy Baby After Being Shot, Then Dies

25-Year-Old's Other 3 Children At Home During Shooting

January 8, 2007

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. -- A 25-year-old pregnant Indiana woman who was reportedly shot accidentally in the face by her boyfriend and then delivered a healthy baby girl late last month has died. (See update below)

Jennifer Montejano, of 3825 Elm St., in East Chicago, Ind. was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m. Sunday at St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields, according to a spokesman from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

The shooting occurred Thursday, Dec. 28 when her boyfriend Fabian Gomez, 22, of Hammond, told authorities he had bought a box of bullets to fire on New Year's Eve, but accidentally shot Montejano during an argument in her Indiana Harbor apartment.

Despite being shot, she delivered a healthy 5-pound, 9-ounce baby girl at an Olympia Fields hospital an hour after the shooting.

Montejano, who was eight months pregnant, suffered a .38-caliber gunshot wound next to her nose. Montejano's three young children were in the apartment when the shooting occurred, police said.

Information regarding charges was not immediately available Monday morning.

UPDATE:

Murder Charge Filed Eight Months After Pregnant Woman Dies
By the Associated Press
9/29/2007

The boyfriend of a pregnant woman who was shot in the face now faces a murder charge in connection with her death.

Fabian Gomez, 23, of Whiting also is charged with aggravated battery, battery and criminal recklessness. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter announced the new charge Friday.

Jennifer Montejano, 25, of East Chicago was eight months pregnant when she was shot Dec. 28, suffering a .38-caliber gunshot wound that left her in a coma for more than a week before she died.

The night she was shot, doctors delivered a 5-pound, 9-ounce girl by emergency Caesarean section.

Gomez told police he had bought a new box of bullets to fire on New Year's Eve but accidentally shot Montejano during an argument in her apartment.

The victim's family said earlier this year that they wanted murder charges filed against Gomez.