DA files murder charges in newborn twins' deaths

Warsaw, N.C. — A man charged in the shooting of a pregnant woman now faces two counts of murder in connection with her twins' deaths, Duplin County's district attorney announced Wednesday.

U.S. Marshals arrested Gregory Chapman, 22, of 706 W. Hayes St. in Burgaw, last Monday in New York City in connection with the May 26 shooting of Lisa Wallace.

Wallace, 29, was five months' pregnant when she was shot outside a Warsaw apartment complex while watching fireworks. She delivered the twins, who died immediately, the next day.

District Attorney Dewey Hudson said in a news release that his decision to charge Chapman with murder was based on further consultation with law enforcement and medical doctors. At issue was whether the babies had taken a breath before they died and whether their deaths were caused as a result of the shooting.

North Carolina law does not recognize the death of a fetus or unborn child as a result of a violent crime as a homicide.

Chapman was extradited to North Carolina last week and was in jail Wednesday under a $2 million bond on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and discharging a weapon into occupied property.

He is expected to make his first court appearance Thursday on the two murder charges, as well as a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.