My heart breaks for women who have to weather emotionally tumultuous pregnancies. Being pregnant is both such a scary and sacred time, and everyone going through it deserves a supportive and loving partner to help them weather it. Being pregnant with my son luckily affirmed that I was with the right person: All of my needs, wants, and recovery were tended to with so much love and kindness. Considering the emotional state I was constantly in, that extra support really got me through some tough times.
Not every pregnant person is as lucky, however. Not only do some have to withstand unsupportive partners, but they also have to navigate physically abusive ones who threaten both their well-being and that of their unborn child.
Justice is thankfully being served after a pregnant Georgia woman was shot in the head.
Remarkably, the unnamed victim woke up from a coma with no recollection of the incident.
“Based on the defendant’s statement to detectives … he did not want the victim to have the child,” an arrest affidavit obtained by Law & Crime shared about the perpetrator, Donald Wooten, 27.
“The defendant’s motive was to kill the unborn child by shooting the victim in the head,” the affidavit continued. “As a result of this incident, the victim had to undergo an emergency C-section … to save her baby.”
The incident happened in March 2023, when Wooten attacked his girlfriend while walking on trails in Chapel Hill Park in Decatur.
The DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office announced May 14, 2026, that Wooten had been sentenced after he was found guilty the previous month of attempted murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and criminal intent to commit feticide. The news release also described the events of that horrific day.
attempted murder, criminal attempt to commit feticide, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
“According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded around 7 a.m. to a 911 call reporting an unresponsive woman near the walking trail,” the DA’s office detailed in the release. “EMTs found a visibly pregnant woman lying in the fetal position, awake but not communicating, with a wound to the back of her head.”
She was placed in a medically induced coma while her family told authorities they suspected it was Wooten who did it to her.
When police interviewed Wooten, he “informed detectives that he initially did not want the victim to have the child and he was upset that the victim chose to go through with the pregnancy,” the affidavit stated.
Originally, Wooten claimed that he and the woman parted ways after seeing a movie.
Although a receipt provided evidence that they saw a movie, Wooten also claimed that he went back to the apartment complex where they both lived, and then he went to his secondary apartment, Law & Crime reported. He also alleged he had an alibi as he was with someone that evening when the shooting took place, but the person he mentioned claimed not to even know who Wooten was.
“Two months after she was shot, police were able to interview the victim at the hospital,” the DA’s office shared in the release. “She recalled being at the park with the defendant late at night, but did not remember being shot. The defendant was questioned again by police and reiterated the second version of his story. He was arrested without incident.”
Wooten reportedly asked family members to wipe his phone in the days following his arrest, but authorities were able to extract the incriminating evidence before it disappeared.
“Messages between defendant Wooten and the victim revealed they were arguing over the pregnancy and their future together,” the DA’s office shared in the release. “In the days following the shooting, he sent messages asking someone to retrieve a gun and bullets from his apartment, and reminding someone to tell police they’d been together the night of the incident.”
Wooten was recently sentenced to 60 years in jail for the horrific crime.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women’s shelter (domesticshelters.org).
