Tennessee Mother of Toddler Paralyzed in 2015 Gang-Related Shooting Found Dead Before She Could Testify
The mother of a baby girl who was paralyzed last year in a gang-related shooting was killed before she was to testify at the trial of her daughter’s shooter.
The bullet-riddled body of Bianca Horton, 26, a beloved mother-of-four, was found laid out on the side of a Chattanooga, Tenn. street Wednesday morning and cops are investigating whether the "gang-related" hit is linked to the trial of Cortez Sims, the man charged with a shooting that permanently injured her daughter.
“This one is very painful for the police department,” Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher, said to the
Chattanooga Free Times Press.
Horton was well-known to the local police department after cops saved the life of her 2-year-old daughter, Zoey, who was left paralyzed from the waist down in a spray of bullets inside Horton’s apartment last January.
When cops arrived to the grisly scene and discovered the blood-covered baby, they wrapped the girl in their arms and sped off to the hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance.
Cortez Sims, 18, was charged with first degree murder for his part in a home invasion in Chattanooga that left one woman dead and three injured.
“If it wasn’t for them, Zoey may not be here,” Horton told
WRCB following last year’s shooting.
The massacre also left one woman dead and injured Horton and the intended target of the shooting.
Marcel “Baby Watts” Christopher Sims, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was later arrested and thrown behind bars for the hit-job.
Horton, who witnessed the shooting, was scheduled to testify against Sims in September, Melydia Clewell, a spokeswoman for District Attorney General’s Office, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
"There is no such thing as witness protection for local crimes, there's maybe some confusion about that," Fletcher told WRCB.
A GoFundMe page was set up for Horton’s family, which includes her four children, “who will truly miss their mom,” the fundraising page says.
The city's mayor responded to Horton's slaying, calling it a "loss" to the Tennessee town.
"Today I received devastating news that Bianca Horton was found dead. This loss of life is a loss to our entire community. Ms. Horton has been through so much. Her family and her daughter deserve our support and justice," Mayor Andy Berke said in a statement.
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