Pregnant Georgia Mother Killed in Bedroom Shooting Days After Baby Shower, Police Say.
A Georgia family is grieving a loss that is almost impossible to measure after 23-year-old Shakiya Pridgen, a pregnant mother of two, was fatally shot inside her DeKalb County home just days after celebrating her baby shower.
Police said officers responded early Tuesday morning, June 16, to the 3300 block of Peppertree Circle in the Decatur area after reports of a person shot. When officers arrived, they found Pridgen suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was rushed to a hospital, but neither she nor her unborn child survived.
What makes the case especially heartbreaking is where it happened. Authorities said preliminary evidence suggests the gunfire came from outside the residence and entered the home while Pridgen was inside. Family members told local reporters she had been asleep in her bedroom with her two young children nearby, ages 1 and 3.
The children were not physically injured, but the emotional damage left behind is far deeper than any police report can fully capture.
Police Say Shots Were Fired Into the Residence From Outside
Investigators believe the shooter fired into Pridgen’s home from outside the building. CBS Atlanta reported that DeKalb County police said no other injuries were reported at the scene, and the medical examiner’s office identified Pridgen as the victim.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, police responded around 5:15 a.m. to The Woods at Peppertree Apartments, where Pridgen was found wounded. She was taken to a hospital, where she and her unborn baby later died.
The early-morning timing, the bedroom location, and the fact that bullets entered the home from outside have intensified the family’s belief that the shooting was not random. Family members told multiple local outlets they believe Pridgen was targeted by someone who knew her and knew where she slept.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed a motive. That distinction matters. In a case this serious, police statements, court records, and family accounts must be separated carefully. What we know is that investigators treated the case as a homicide, made an arrest the same day, and filed severe felony charges.
Suspect Arrested After Deadly DeKalb County Shooting
The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said 26-year-old Devin Anthony was arrested later the same day in Riverdale after a joint operation involving sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service.
FOX 5 Atlanta reported that Anthony was located at a home on Quail Hunt Drive in Riverdale. He was booked into the DeKalb County Jail and remained held without bond, according to the outlet.
Authorities said Anthony faces charges that include malice murder, feticide, aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. FOX 5 Atlanta reported five counts of aggravated assault in its later update, while PEOPLE reported two counts based on online court records reviewed at the time of publication. Because criminal case information can update as charges are amended or clarified, readers should treat the latest court record as the controlling source.
At this stage, Anthony is accused, not convicted. The charges show what prosecutors and law enforcement allege, but the case must still move through the court system.
A Baby Shower, a New Apartment, and a Future Cut Short
Pridgen’s family said she was close to giving birth. PEOPLE reported that her family had held a baby shower the weekend before the shooting and that the baby boy was expected within days. Family members said the baby was to be named Kyren or Kiyren, with spelling varying across local reports.
The details make the case even more painful. This was not only the death of a young mother. It was the loss of a baby whose arrival had already been celebrated, planned for, and loved.
Her family said Pridgen had recently moved into her first apartment on her own and was trying to build a stable life for her children. Her mother, Verdina Scott, described her as a mother doing what she was supposed to do, someone trying to move forward and care for her family.
For many readers, that is what makes the story so devastating. It did not happen in a distant place or under unusual circumstances. It happened in a bedroom, in a home, in the early hours of the morning, while small children slept close by.
Family Says Two Young Children Were Sleeping Beside Her
Family members told Atlanta News First that Pridgen was shot through her bedroom window while her 1-year-old and 3-year-old children were beside her. The children survived physically unharmed, but they are now left without their mother and unborn sibling.
That detail has become one of the most haunting parts of the case. A bedroom is supposed to be the safest room in a home. For a pregnant mother and her children, it should have been a place of rest, not a crime scene.
Pridgen’s father, Paco Pridgen, told Atlanta News First that whoever fired into the room appeared to know where she was. He described the gunfire as deliberate, saying the shooter took time to aim through the window.
Police have not confirmed all of the family’s claims publicly, but investigators have said they believe shots were fired into the residence from outside. That alone raises serious public safety concerns for residents in the area, especially families living in apartment communities where walls, windows, and shared spaces can leave people vulnerable to violence that begins outside their door.
Why the Feticide Charge Matters in Georgia
One of the most significant charges in this case is feticide. In Georgia, feticide charges can apply when an unborn child dies as a result of criminal conduct. In this case, authorities allege that the same shooting that killed Pridgen also caused the death of her unborn baby.
That charge changes the legal weight of the case. Prosecutors are not treating this as the killing of only one person. They are alleging the death of both a mother and her unborn child.
For Pridgen’s family, that distinction matches the grief they have described publicly. They are mourning Shakiya and the baby boy they had already welcomed emotionally before his birth.
What Remains Unclear
Several key questions remain unanswered publicly.
Authorities have not released a confirmed motive. Officials have not fully detailed what they believe happened before the shooting. Police have also not publicly confirmed every family claim about the relationship between Pridgen and Anthony, though multiple outlets reported that family members described him as her ex-boyfriend and the father of the unborn child.
It is also not yet clear how Anthony will plead, whether he has retained legal counsel, or how prosecutors will present the case as it moves forward.
In high-profile crime cases, those unknowns matter. Early reports often change as investigators gather evidence, witnesses give statements, forensic results return, and prosecutors review charges.
A Community Left Asking How This Happened
For DeKalb County residents, the shooting raises a terrifying question: how can a young mother and her children be safe if bullets can enter a bedroom before sunrise?
Apartment communities rely on shared trust. Families live close together. Children sleep behind thin walls. Neighbors hear arguments, alarms, sirens, and sometimes gunfire. When violence reaches inside a private home, it damages more than one family. It shakes an entire community’s sense of safety.
That is why cases like this often become more than criminal investigations. They become public safety conversations about domestic violence, gun access, apartment security, emergency response, and whether warning signs were missed before tragedy arrived.
Domestic Violence Concerns Surround the Case
Family members have described the shooting as a targeted act and have connected it to domestic violence in interviews with local media. Authorities have not confirmed a motive, but the family’s concern reflects a broader danger many women face when relationships become threatening, especially during pregnancy or separation.
Pregnancy can be a vulnerable period for women in abusive or unstable relationships. When violence escalates, it can put both the mother and unborn child at risk. That is why advocates urge families, friends, neighbors, and coworkers to take warning signs seriously.
Justice Now Moves Through the Court System
For now, the criminal case moves forward through DeKalb County’s legal system. Investigators will continue collecting evidence, prosecutors will review the charges, and court proceedings will determine what happens next.
The family has made clear that they want justice for Shakiya Pridgen and her unborn son. But justice in a courtroom is often slow. It requires evidence, hearings, legal motions, and time.
For the public, the most responsible way to follow the case is to remember both sides of the legal reality: the accused is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and the victims’ family is grieving an enormous loss that cannot be undone.
