A 27-year-old Georgia man, Donald Wooten, has been sentenced to 60 years in prison. He was convicted of shooting his pregnant girlfriend in an attempt to kill their unborn baby. According to reports, the victim, who was in a coma, had to go through an emergency C-section surgery to save the child.

An arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime suggests that, based on the defendant’s statement to detectives, he didn’t want his girlfriend to have the child. Wooten was sentenced last Thursday after being indicted for attempted murder, criminal attempt to commit feticide, and possessing a gun while committing the felony. The incident dates back to March 2023. Last week, the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office announced that Wooten had been found guilty.

The decision was made after the prosecutors showed how the young man attacked his girlfriend at Chapel Hill Park in Decatur. The DA’s office recounted that, per the ongoing probe, DeKalb County Police Department officers responded to a 911 call at around 7 a.m. “reporting an unresponsive woman near the walking trail.”

The DA’s office added that EMTs found a pregnant woman lying on the ground with an injured back of the head. She was conscious at the time but unable to communicate. The report states that she was immediately rushed to a nearby medical facility, where medical personnel discovered that she sustained a gunshot injury to her head and was 22 weeks pregnant.

While the investigators couldn’t speak to the woman initially, her family alleged that Wooten could be responsible for the shooting. Police probed the defendant, who, per the affidavit, confessed that he “initially did not want the victim to have the child and he was upset that the victim chose to go through with the pregnancy.”

In addition, the 27-year-old also gave an alibi to the detectives, claiming that he was with somebody who denied knowing him.  During a conversation with investigators, he allegedly said he had watched a movie with his girlfriend the night before the incident and later returned with her to their apartment complex. He also claimed that after the two ended their relationship, he went to his another apartment in Atlanta.

Prosecutors stated that a receipt recovered from the victim’s car, along with text messages, confirmed that the couple had gone for a movie. However, the cell phone location retrieved from their phones did not match their version of traveling to Ellenwood. The victim was able to give her statements to the police after two months of the incident. During the trial, the victim attested that after they returned from a movie, Wooten suggested going to the park.

Meanwhile, Wooten reportedly asked a relative to delete his cellphone history after police seized it as evidence. But the police were able to extract data already. The DA’s office insisted that the messages showed the couple was “arguing over the pregnancy and their future together.” The defendant reportedly sent messages asking someone to collect a gun and ammunition from his apartment. He also asked them to back up his version of events with police.