Desire Green, fetus

Desire Green, a black female fetus, died Wednesday, May 5, in the 1900 block of South Corning Street in Mid-City after her mother was shot in the head, according to the  Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Jana Collins, who was 18 weeks pregnant at the time, was sitting in a parked car Wednesday morning when a gunman opened fire on a group of people. She was hit once.

Friends jumped in the car and drove her to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead about 9:30 a.m., police said. Collins' unborn baby, later identified as Desire Green, was delivered by emergency C-section and died a short time after delivery, according to coroner's records.

Desire's death was listed as a homicide.

The intended target appears to have been the woman's husband, who police said was a suspected gang member visiting friends in the neighborhood.

Lt. Tony Carranza of the Los Angeles Police Department said the husband had just gotten out of the car when two men pulled up in sport-utility vehicle. One of them fired multiple rounds.

“She was not an intended target,” he said. “It looks like she was a victim of circumstance of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Residents said they heard at least five shots in rapid succession. Collins and her husband regularly visited friends who live in a house next to where the slaying occurred, according to neighbors.

-- Andrew Blankstein and Robert J. Lopez