Precious Elicia J’anae Johnson was all smiles earlier Sunday at Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital’s Women’s Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama. She had just pushed through labor and gave birth to her first child, surrounded by hope and the joy of her new family.
That joy vanished around 9:25 p.m. when police say shots rang out on the fifth floor maternity ward. Officers responding to reports of gunfire found Johnson, 24, lying wounded inside the Women’s Center. Nearby lay her husband, 19-year-old Kynath William Terry Jr. Both were unresponsive. Johnson had been shot several times. Terry was found with a single gunshot wound that authorities say he inflicted on himself after the attack.
Doctors had only moments before welcomed their newborn into the world. Hospital staff later confirmed the baby was not in the room when the shots were fired and was safe. The infant, healthy and crying, became the only survivor of a night that turned devastating. Medical teams immediately cared for the child while officers cleared the area and placed the hospital on lockdown out of caution.
Loved ones described Johnson as a young woman full of promise, excited about being a new mom. Family accounts suggest the couple had been dealing with personal struggles behind closed doors. Terry had recently completed training with the Army National Guard and had married Johnson shortly before the pregnancy. Those close to the family say they never saw signs of violence, leaving them shocked and heartbroken at the sudden turn of events.
Homewood police officials have said the shooting appears to be a domestic-related murder-suicide. No one else in the hospital was injured during the incident, and staff worked to reassure other patients and visitors that the facility was secure once the immediate threat had passed. The investigation into what exactly triggered the shooting is still underway, with law enforcement urging anyone with information to come forward.
As the community reels, friends and family are now left to support the infant who lost both parents in an instant. A small memorial of flowers and teddy bears has already begun to gather outside the hospital entrance where the young couple’s life story took its tragic final chapter.
