Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Father Of Pregnant Woman Who Was Fatally Shot While Driving, Allegedly By Her Boyfriend, Opens Up About His Daughter
Fort Bragg soldier Alonzo Dargan Jr. has been charged with the murder of Akeila Ware and their unborn baby boy.
The father of Akeila Ware, the pregnant mother of five who was fatally shot while driving her car in Georgia, is speaking out about his daughter, calling her a “devoted mother,” according to People Magazine.
“Akelia was loving daughter, mother and co-worker,” William Ware Jr. told People. “[She] loved her life. She worked her way through school to become a RN nurse. She was a family person.”
Ware, 29, was struck by gunfire while driving her car down Highway 18 in Troup County one week ago, on Tuesday. Ware ran off the road and crashed her Honda Accord into a tree, investigators said. She and her unborn child died at a local hospital. Ware was 33 weeks pregnant, investigators said.
“[She] was happy about the baby,” Ware’s father told People. “She was looking to buy a new home for her family.” He said the baby was a boy.
At first, emergency crews thought they were responding to a car crash, but “it turned out to be murder,” Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff said at a news conference.
“I went to the scene and could not believe that somebody has shot and killed a young other of five children,” Woodruff told reporters. “On top of that, killed her and she had a baby inside of her that resulted in the death of the baby.”
Alonzo Dargan Jr., 30, an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina has been arrested and charged with her murder.
He was the father of Ware’s unborn child, according to Capt. Kelli Ellington with the Troup County Sheriff’s Office. They were in a relationship at the time of the shooting, Ellington said.
Investigators said Dargan was driving on the same road as Ware when she was shot. Investigators linked evidence from the scene to a silver Nissan. It was later discovered that Dargan owned a 2000 Silver Nissan Altima and was in Troup County at the time of the shooting, Ellington said.
Dargan and Ware grew up together and went to school together, according to local news station WRBL. Ellington said Dargan is married with other children, but is not the father of Ware’s other children, she said.
Dagan is charged with murder, feticide or death of an unborn child and possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime, Ellington said.
Troop County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Steward Smith told Oxygen.com that Dargan is refusing to be extradited from North Carolina. He said it could be weeks before he is transferred to Troup County. Dargan is being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center on a $2 million bond.
“I personally .... went to the home of her father and had to deliver this news that his daughter was dead — that’s very terrible news to have to give to anybody, especially if it’s one of your children and grandchild,” Woodruff said, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Now, Ware’s grief-stricken relatives are just trying to deal with her shocking death.
“It just seems like a dream, like you’re going to wake up out of it," Ware’s mother, Tvila, told WRAL.
Ware was a student at Southern Union College in Alabama and worked as a home health care nurse, according to People.
“She enjoyed her patients,” her father told the magazine.
Dargan enlisted in the Army 2009 and was stationed in Florence, South Carolina working as an Army recruiter, Army spokesman Peter Nguyen told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
He has been stationed at Fort Bragg since April, the paper reported. He served in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012.
Dargan has received several awards and commendations during his military service including the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal and the Air Assault Badge, the paper reported.
