Pregnant woman and boyfriend injured in drive-by shooting

BOYNTON BEACH — A drive-by shooter wounded a pregnant woman and her boyfriend Tuesday afternoon as the two were visiting the woman’s family for Christmas in the 100 block of Northeast 17th Court.

Police officers responding to 911 call found the woman, whom family members said was five months pregnant, and the child’s father bleeding in the front seats of a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo, according to a police statement and the woman’s uncle.

The victims were in serious condition at Delray Medical Center about 4:30 p.m., Boynton Beach police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said. She did not identify them Tuesday night.

Family members said the woman and her unborn child were expected to recover. The boyfriend’s prognosis was unavailable Tuesday night.

“It’s sad that someone would want to do something like this,” said Gentle Short, 69, of Boynton Beach, who said he was the female victim’s uncle.

The shots woke a napping neighbor who thought they north side.

“I want to move back to Homestead,” said Jessie Exantus, 21, who said she doesn’t feel safe in the neighborhood wi t h her 6-month-old son.

Short said his niece had just arrived at her cousin’s house to eat before playing cards.

That’s when, according to witnesses, another vehicle pulled up next to the driver’s side of the Monte Carlo and someone started shooting at the victims, Slater said.

The street was stained with blood, and relatives were scrubbing large dried splotches from a front doorstep Tuesday night.

“I don’t know” why the shooting happened, Short said. “I’m trying to figure that out myself. Who would want to shoot somebody like this?”

On Christmas 2011, a 54-year-old man was shot and wounded in a Boynton Beach robbery. And the Boynton Beach Mall was the setting of a 2006 gang shootout that left one dead on Christmas Eve.

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