Pregnant woman shot in face; 1 held

Austin police have arrested a man accused of shooting a pregnant woman in the face at a North Austin hotel earlier this month, court documents say.

Jeremy Petty, 41, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is being held at the Travis County Jail on $100,000 bail, records show.

Police say Petty shot a woman who is five months pregnant at the Austin Suites Hotel on Interstate 35 near Rundberg Lane on Sept. 1.

An arrest affidavit filed on Wednesday says officers responded to the hotel around 7 a.m. and found woman with a gunshot wound to the cheek. She was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center and treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening, officials said.

The shooter fled the scene, according to police.

The affidavit says Petty had approached the woman earlier in the morning in a parking lot and offered to pay her $100 to smoke methamphetamine in her hotel room.

The report said the two checked in at the front desk of the hotel, and when they got to the room, Petty snorted the drugs and became aggressive.

According to the affidavit, he tried to pay the woman for sex, but she rejected him and asked him to leave.

Petty got upset and warned the woman he would be back, the document says.

He returned later and demanded his money back, then shot her in the cheek and warned her not to get up before he took off, the affidavit says.

Police said they later identified Petty from video surveillance, a photo ID he provided to the front desk and a lineup, court documents says.

Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.

— MARY HUBER, AMERICAN-STATESMAN