Infant Of Slain Mother Dies

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The death of a baby girl born to a slain Grand Junction woman has been ruled a homicide, the Mesa County coroner said Thursday.

The 5-pound, 8-ounce infant was delivered by emergency Caesarean section after Anna Maria Macias, 23, was shot in the neck and killed outside the Garden Village apartment complex on Sunday night. She was about 8 1/2 months pregnant.

The baby girl was on life support in the hospital for two days. Family members decided to remove the girl, whom they named Maria, from life support on Tuesday. She died a short time later.

A family member said the newborn had injuries to 90 percent of her brain as a result of an attack on her mother.

The coroner said Thursday that the newborn died of intrauterine hypoxia, or a decreased availability of oxygen, and complications from that. The baby was not directly hurt from the gunshot wound to her mother but did not receive enough oxygen because of her mother's injuries, Chief Deputy Coroner Rob Kurtzman told the Grand Junction Sentinel.

Police said Lonnie Herrera, 39, shot and killed Macias after she obtained a restraining order against him. Authorities arrested Herrera on suspicion of first-degree murder Monday in Delta, Colo. He was armed with a semiautomatic handgun when he was taken into custody.

He is being held on $2 million bond and could face additional charges as a result of the baby's death.

Macias was shot in front of her two young children.

A study in March 2005 in the American Journal of Public Health shows that homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women.

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