Nurse in US kills mother before abducting newborn baby

A nurse shot dead a mother while abducting her newborn baby outside a US maternity clinic.

Kala Golden had just emerged from a check-up with her three-day-old son Keegan when she was attacked.

Witnesses said an argument broke out between Ms Golden and another woman outside the centre in Spring, Texas.

The woman repeatedly shot Ms Golden then snatched the baby from her arms and drove off.

The dying woman leaned into the vehicle and tried to take Keegan back, screaming “My baby!” but her attacker sped away.

The baby was found safe and well a few hours later and District Attorney Brett Ligon said that registered nurse Verna McClain was charged with the killing.

Mr Ligon said McClain’s statement to investigators indicates that she shot the mother as part of a wider plan to kidnap any child and that Ms Golden was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“There were statements as indicated in the arrest record that were made by Ms McClain that led us to believe that, in fact, this was an intentional act on her part,” Mr Ligon said.

“Not that Ms. Golden was targeted specifically, but that this was part of a plan to kidnap a child.”

He made no mention of a man witnesses said they saw in the Lexus that was blood stained on the driver’s side.

Ms Golden’s mother, Linda Golden, said she had been baby-sitting another of her grandsons when someone at the scene called using her daughter’s phone. She rushed to the clinic but was unable to see her daughter because paramedics were trying to save her.

“I wanted to kiss her before they put her in the ambulance,” Mrs Golden said.

Mrs Golden said she had no idea what could have sparked the killing and abduction.

“That’s the hardest she’s ever fought,” she said. “She died trying to save her baby.”