Seattle police officers shot pregnant woman seven times and one of the bullets struck her unborn baby boy, autopsy reveals

Seattle police officers shot pregnant woman seven times and one of the bullets struck her unborn baby boy, autopsy reveals

The father of a pregnant woman who was shot dead by police officers after she called to report a robbery in June has released her autopsy report. 

Charleena Lyles was nearly four months pregnant on June 18 when she called police to report an Xbox stolen at her Seattle apartment.

It's still unclear how the confrontation unfolded, but in less than three minutes, the two officers opened fire on the 30-year-old  in front of three of her four children.

 

The officers, Jason Anderson and Steven McNew, said that they started shooting at Lyles when she lunged at them holding knives.   

The autopsy report, released Wednesday, shows that Lyles was shot seven times, including twice in the back. 

One of the bullets perforated her uterus, striking her unborn baby boy. Both mother and son died at the hospital. The unborn baby boy would have been Lyles' fifth child. 

The report also included toxicology reports, showing that Lyles didn't have alcohol or drugs in her system at the time. 

Her father, Charles Lyles, told The people: 'Hearing the details of the shooting just makes me feel more empty. I lost my daughter and my next grandson. I just don't have the words.' 

The fact that she was shot in the back leads family members to question the officers' side of the story. 

'Did they shoot her as she fell to the ground? Was she running away?' cousin Katrina Johnson asked. 'How did she get shot in the back? I still don't know that and understand that, but any which way, it was excessive force. Seven times for her little pregnant 100-pound self was out of control.'

Koehler said that they decided to release the autopsy report to dispel the public assumptions about the case.

'If you have been reading the dialogue you might have assumed she was a poor, single black woman with multiple children who must have been on drugs, and that is a false assumption and a false narrative,' Koehler told the people.

Jason Anderson (right) and Steven McNew (left) are the two officers who shot Lyles dead. They are on paid administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation 

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