Pregnant woman shot and killed by police on wellness check

She's survived by her three children

(Renee Davis/Facebook)

Renee Davis, a 23-year-old mother of three who was five months pregnant, was fatally shot by police on Friday inside her home on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation in Auburn, Washington.

Someone close to Ms Davis, who was described as Native American, called police for a wellness check because she was suicidal and holding a gun, The Seattle Times reports. Police said no one would respond when they knocked on the door, so when they entered the home they found the mother holding a gun in her hand.

At least one police officer shot the mother, for reasons that are currently unclear. Ms Davis was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her foster sister Danielle Bargala said that she never knew Ms Davis to be violent or even to discipline her kids harshly. “It’s really upsetting because it was a wellness check,” she told The Times. “Obviously, she didn’t come out of it well.”

She is just one of 776 people fatally shot by police in 2016, according to a tally by The Washington Post. Thirty-two of the victims were women and 13 were diagnosed with some type of mental illness.

Ms Davis is survived by her three children, ages 2, 3, and 5-years-old.