Pregnant woman critical after Germantown shooting

A pregnant woman who was shot in the head Sunday night fell victim when her live-in boyfriend was losing a fight in Germantown and turned it into a gun battle, police said.

Bobbi Booker, 26, of the Queen Lane Apartments, was in extremely critical condition yesterday. Police charged her boyfriend, Michael Thomas, 26, and Lamar Johnson, 22, with two counts each of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated assault of a fetus.

"The shooting was as a result of her boyfriend . . . exchanging gunfire from the window with another male," Homicide Capt. James Clark said. "There was an argument beforehand with the victim's boyfriend and a couple of other males."

Booker, Clark said, was "just walking past her window" when she was shot. "It's just very, very tragic," he said.

Initially, police had been told that Booker, who is four months pregnant, was in her second-floor apartment and was hit with a stray bullet from a fight on a nearby playground.

Booker was put on life support at Albert Einstein Medical Center, police said. There was no information available about the condition of the fetus.

Johnson, who was shot in the leg, was taken by his girlfriend to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. When police arrived, Johnson said he had been shot in Grays Ferry. Clark said police quickly determined that Johnson had lied and connected him to Booker's shooting.

About 9:40 p.m., Johnson and several others were in a fight with Thomas, who was getting badly beaten, Clark said. Thomas ran to the apartment he shared with Booker and her two children, 7 and 4, who were not home at the time, Clark said.

Clark said Thomas grabbed a shotgun and fired outside. Johnson fired back, and a bullet hit Booker.

The shotgun has been recovered. Police are still looking for the 9mm handgun they believe Johnson used.

Residents in the area said little yesterday as detectives continued investigating. Some said Booker was quiet and kept to herself.

There were bullet holes in the window of the apartment, and crime-scene tape remained in the area, which struggles with crime.

Less than four months ago, a teenager shot a Housing Authority officer at close range in the security booth of the Queen Lane Apartments. Police said the officer survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.