A Delco man fired a ‘kill shot’ at his pregnant girlfriend, with no regard for their unborn child, DA says

When a Lansdowne man walked into a courtroom Tuesday for his preliminary hearing in the fatal shooting of his pregnant girlfriend, he was immediately confronted with the memory of her.

Two dozen members of Taniyah Bell’s family wore her likeness on their clothing and held up cutouts of her prom picture to remind Kaiheem Williams of the life prosecutors say he took.

Williams, 19, was held for trial on murder and related crimes Tuesday for fatally shooting Bell, also 19, and seriously wounding their unborn daughter, Miracle, who was delivered in an emergency C-section and remains on life support at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Investigators say Williams called police in a panic on Nov. 14, saying Bell, whom he had dated for nearly three years, had been shot inside their apartment on North Wycombe Avenue. Inside, police found Bell dead, shot once in the head, and rushed her to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where the daughter she had carried for eight months was delivered prematurely.

The medical examiner ruled that Bell’s death was a homicide, and Williams told police that he and Bell were alone in the apartment that night. In testimony Tuesday, investigators said they could not find the gun that killed her, and Williams said he could not account for everything that happened before the shooting, saying he had been smoking marijuana and had “blacked out.”

Detectives found an unfired .45 caliber bullet in Williams’ pocket, and a photo found on his cell phone — taken an hour before Williams called 911 — showed him in the apartment’s kitchen, with a handgun nearby.

Williams’ hands later tested positive for gun shot residue, according to testimony Tuesday.

Williams’ attorney, Eugene Gibbons, said during the hearing that there was no indication that the shooting was premeditated, or even intentional, and argued that the first-degree murder charge against his client should be dismissed.

“There is no evidence of a domestic disturbance or a fight, or even yelling before this took place,” Gibbons said. “I think we can make an inference that this wasn’t something that escalated into a gunshot.”

But Assistant District Attorney Danielle Gallaher said it was clear not only that Williams killed his longtime girlfriend, but also that he intended to do so with a “kill shot” aimed at the center of her forehead.

And, she said, it was clear that Williams had no qualms about killing their unborn child.

“If this was an accident, you’d see a firearm next to her,” Gallaher said. “Enough time passed that [Williams] hid the firearm in a way that trained law enforcement officers could not find it.”

After the hearing, Bell’s mother, Tylicia, said she was overwhelmed with emotion — happy that Williams was being held accountable for his crime but heartbroken over losing her only child.

“I do feel like I’m going to get justice for my daughter,” she said. “I’m just thankful I had my family and friends here to support me.”

Bell, who graduated from Academy Park High School in June, was studying nursing, following in her mother’s professional footsteps. Tylicia Bell said her daughter was an “uplifted spirit,” who was a cheerleader and avid lacrosse player in high school.

Bell met Williams when they were both 16, her mother said, and she chaperoned their dates until they turned 18. But she said the two had a “bad relationship” marred by domestic abuse.

Still, she said, “He was a part of the family. This is just a shock, the way she died.”