A Florida man is accused of shooting his pregnant partner Friday, killing her and her eight-month unborn baby before shooting himself in what authorities described as a “horrific” double murder-suicide.
Independent journalist Andy Ngo reports the pregnant victim, Cortney “Camdyn” Rider, 21, was a transgender activist who identified as a man. Ngo said Rider and the accused shooter, Riley Groover, 26, of Winter Haven, were engaged. Reports did not mention if Groover was the father of the unborn baby.
“This was a violent and horrific double murder that ended the lives of a 21-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant and her unborn baby,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “When the suspect became enraged, family members and neighbors did everything they could to help her get away from him. Please keep this family in your prayers.”
Authorities said Groover shot Rider with a gun multiple times Friday evening during a domestic dispute near a home in the Inwood area of Winter Haven; then, Groover shot himself, True Crime Daily reports.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, emergency responders attempted to save Rider and her unborn baby but did not succeed.
The sheriff said several people witnessed the violence after trying to help Rider escape.
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Records show Groover had a history of violence, including a 2018 incident in which he allegedly stabbed his sister in the stomach after they argued about chores, according to The Mirror. In 2014, Groover spent time in juvenile detention after he was arrested for firing a BB gun into a house and kicking a police officer, the report states.
Groover reportedly struggled with mental health problems and spent time in a group home.
Homicide is one of the top causes of death among pregnant women, according to a 2021 study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. The crime is doubly horrific because it almost always claims the lives of two victims: a mother and her unborn baby.
Most states treat unborn babies as valuable human beings in circumstances unrelated to abortion. Unborn victims of violence, or fetal homicide, laws are on the books in 37 states; they recognize the unlawful killing of an unborn baby as homicide in at least some circumstances, according to National Right to Life. However, New York and Illinois repealed their laws as part of larger pro-abortion legislation in 2019.
