Erneisha Barnes: 19-Year-Old Baton Rouge Woman Shot Dead In Crossfire

Erneisha Barnes, 19, a mother of a 4-year-old girl, was gunned own Oct. 26, 2017 outside a Baton Rouge business. Police have no suspects.

Erneisha Barnes was a loving mother to her 4-year-old son. She was described by her family and friends and outgoing and gregarious -- yet she is dead, the latest victim of a deadly scourge affecting one of the most vulnerable people in U.S. society: black women.

Barnes, 19, was sitting in a vehicle with her best friend  on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017 at a Baton Rouge business when an argument erupted between a man she was there seeing and another man.

The shooter fired several times from inside a Chevy Trailblazer into another vehicle where Barnes was sitting in the passenger seat, McKneely said. Barnes was taken to the hospital and later died.

Barnes’ mother, Patricia Bickham, told The Advocate that her daughter was at Ragusa’s Deli on Gus Young Avenue. While details are sketchy on what the disagreement was about, Bickham told authorities that her daughter at some point was struck by a bullet.

Barnes, who was in the passenger seat, then managed to pull out her phone and call police, before slumping down in the seat  as “she began to leave us,” she told The Advocate.

Bickham said she's still trying to comprehend the tragedy that took her daughter.

“It hasn’t really dawned on me yet,” she told the newspaper. “I feel numb, like this can’t be real. … I have to stay strong because I’ve got the baby and (my) other kids. My heart is really heavy but I try to keep smiling, to keep from crying.”

Baton Rouge police this week arrested two people in Barnes' death, according to the newspaper.

Donnie Spencer, 27, is accused of being the triggerman who shot Barnes. Ashley Taylor, 30, is also accused by authorities of shooting into the vehicle, but police don't believe Taylor's bullets injured anyone.