HITCHCOCK, Texas—A Galveston County grand jury will decide if a man accused of fatally shooting his pregnant girlfriend will face capital murder charges.
Bernard Stenson Cunningham, 33, has already been charged with one count of murder in the death of 33-year-old Erica Gee.
Gee, who was five months pregnant, was shot at least three times in her Hitchcock apartment Saturday night, police said.
Both she and her unborn child died.
Galveston County District Attorney Kirk Sistrunk said the decision to pursue capital murder charges was made after Gee’s autopsy.
"An autopsy was conducted today and after a review of the case evidence and autopsy findings, it is clear that the facts support a charge of capital murder, because the shooting death of Ms. Gee, who the accused knew was pregnant, also resulted in the death of her unborn child," Sistrunk said.
Police said Gee’s 10-year-old daughter witnessed the shooting and called 911.
Gee was rushed to the hospital, where investigators said an emergency C-section was performed in a bid to save the baby. But doctors found the child had also been shot.
Under a 2003 Texas law, an unborn child is considered an "individual" at every stage of gestation, from fertilization until birth.
Gee and Cunningham had been together on and off for about nine months, the victim’s sister said.
Gee worked in the food service department at Gulf Greyhound Park and was regarded as an "excellent and conscientious employee," Gulf Greyhound Park manager Sally Briggs said.
"She was the sweetest person in the whole complex," Enchanted Oaks Apartments manager Maria Garcia said. "She stayed to herself, didn’t go out much. She was always very nice."
"She was a very kind person," Gee’s father, John Lundy, said. "She lived a good life. She just got hooked up with the wrong person."
Sistrunk said a date for the grand jury presentation has not been set, and the DA’s office will request that Cunningham be held without bond.
