SC - Woman intended to kill expectant mother and keep her baby

A woman who held a gun to the stomach of an expectant mother unloading groceries in the Cane Bay area Thursday morning intended to kill her, extract the baby and keep it as her own, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office.

The expectant mother, who was about 37 weeks pregnant, was standing by her car at her house on Decatur Drive when a woman later identified as 44-year-old Julie Gookins of Sandra Lane in Ladson came up and held a gun to her stomach, according to the incident report.

Gookins said she would shoot the woman and her baby if she didn't walk to the backyard, according to the report.

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Sonja Williams lives just off Decatur Drive on Deep River Road in Cane Bay and says on Thursday morning, she witnessed her pregnant neighbor as she was being assaulted in her backyard. "I heard screaming. So when I looked out my window I saw her with the gun to her head,” said Williams...

Mikey Brown lives a few doors down and said, "It was very horrific. All you can see was a pregnant lady tackled to the ground. Instantly you're thinking, maybe she's getting murdered. I mean, early in the morning… you don't expect stuff like that to happen.”

Witnesses say the victim tossed the gun into a nearby pond and then she and another neighbor were able to wrestle Gookins to the ground and hold her there until police arrived.

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According to Berkeley County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dan Moon, Gookins has been charged with burglary, kidnapping, attempted murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.

A judge denied bond on all charges.

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