Mother Shot Holding Baby: Gate City, Ala. Woman Sheri Williams Killed While Holding Newborn Son

Police in Alabama are searching for a gunman whose stray bullet killed a mother while she was holding her 10-day-old baby.

Sheri Williams, a 24-year-old resident of Gate City, was standing in the doorway of her apartment Monday afternoon when an unidentified gunman shot her, Birmingham Police spokesman Johnny Williams said in a statement.

According to local officials, the incident occurred after two local men got into an altercation at a nearby store, CBS News reports. One of the men chased the other down the street with a gun, firing shots as he ran.

Police stated that Williams was hit in the chest by a stray bullet shortly before 1 p.m., The Birmingham News reports. She fell onto a nearby couch, where she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her newborn son was not injured, despite the fact that she was holding him at the time of the shooting.

Rinda Williams, the victim’s mother, told a local ABC affiliate that her daughter was talking to a neighbor when she was shot.

"My baby's son was trying to break a fight up or something and some dude came behind him shooting and the bullet was just bouncing,” the elder Williams told Mother. "She took care of her kids, she didn't bother nobody."

Williams’ 6-year-old daughter was at school during the shooting, but her 4-year-old son, who suffers from a chronic heart condition, was home when his mother died.

Kerry Jackson, the uncle of the slain mother of three, told The Birmingham News that his niece kept to herself and was growing weary of her neighborhood.

"For a long time, she was trying to get out of here," he said.

Birmingham police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the shooting, but they are seeking an African-American male in a white tank top, as well as an African-American woman in a yellow shirt and with a braided hairstyle that is missing some braids, The Birmingham News reports. The suspects were last seen in a black Chrysler Sebring.

Jackson urged anyone connected with the shooter to turn him in, The Birmingham News reports.

"Just imagine if these kids would've been out here playing," he said. "All of the kids are out here, and someone could come through here shooting."