Pregnant Woman Killed By Stray Bullet During Family Outing

A pregnant nanny died when she got hit by a stray bullet on the chest during a family outing in Buckeye, Arizona, Sunday. According to a report by New York Post, 24-year-old Kami Gilstrap, a resident of Oklahoma, was visiting a place famous for target shooting and ATV bike riding when the incident happened.

Tamela Skaggs, detective of Buckeye Police Department, said Tuesday, “It is believed that the person involved may not know that they shot someone.”

“This does raise concerns, however, with reckless shooters in this area who are not aware of what their backdrop is when shooting,” Skaggs added.

Gilstrap's friends said she was expecting her first child. Her husband worked for the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, the report stated. According to her Facebook account, she worked as a nanny for a local family.

Buckeye Police Chief Larry Hall stated that the area where Gilstrap was shot, situated north of Interstate 10 and Miller Road, was a popular destination. On Sunday, there were numerous people engaged in recreational shooting in the area, AZ Family reported.

Hall said, “There’s [sic] tons of ricochets. And our incident from yesterday was an indication that the round that was fired at our victim, yesterday, came from a completely different direction than where everybody’s firing right now.” He added, "There are no regulations out here."

Hall described that at approximately 2 p.m. UTC (9 a.m. EST), a pickup truck came racing towards a group of police officers. Gilstrap was on the bed of the truck and a group of people were trying to perform chest compressions on her as she was shot.

Witnesses told the authorities that they heard three bullet shots as they were in the same area and Gilstrap was hit by one of the three bullets. However, they weren’t aware as to where the bullet came from, he added.

“Out here we have tons of trash. All that trash is potential for a round to ricochet and hit another shooter,” said Hall.

“And that’s where this whole situation out here is absolutely dangerous. I would never bring my family out here and I’d never bring my friends out here,” he added.

Gilstrap was taken to a hospital in a critical condition. However, Buckeye Police authorities announced Monday that she died. The investigation of the case is still underway.

“The biggest challenge we're facing in this investigation, right now is that there are hundreds of shooters out here and there were hundreds of shooters just south of where the incident occurred, which is a 1-mile stretch of area. In trying to determine trajectory, and actually the round that hit her, it's gonna be a very challenging investigation at this point,” Hall said.

He also pointed out that this wasn’t an isolated incident.

“The worst thing you can do is come out to an uncontrolled environment like the desert where you have multiple shooters out here who have varying levels of skill and engage in target practice. This isn't the first incident we've had up here where people have been hit,” stated Hall.

As of Tuesday, Skaggs said there were no suspects related to the case. The investigation was still going on, reported New York Post.

“Persons shooting in legal areas must be responsible for where their bullets are going,” said Skaggs.