Pregnant woman slain; baby saved

A pregnant woman was shot dead in the city's Frankford section overnight, police said, but doctors at Temple University Hospital were able to save her child.

The expectant young mother was killed by a single shotgun blast to her back shortly after 1 a.m. on the 4600 block of Griscomb Street, police said.

The woman, who was 28 weeks pregnant, was found by police at 1:18 a.m. inside a parked car with her legs draped out the door.

Her baby girl was expected to survive after an emergency delivery at Temple, police said. The child remains in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A man, who investigators believe knew the woman, was also struck by gunfire but is in stable condition this morning. He was treated at Frankford Hospital with buckshot wounds to his right shoulder, left arm and back, police said.

Police found two unlit molotov cocktails near the shooting scene.

The investigation was being hampered by reluctant witnesses and conflicting reports, police sources said. It took about three hours to determine the identity of the dead woman, who was tentatively described as light-skinned, Hispanic, and in her mid-twenties.

"People knew her by various names. They said she was one person, then another, and then another," one officer said. "We think we know who she is now."

Police have no motive or suspect in the shooting, which is the city's 23d homicide of the year.