Roanoke woman shot, killed while holding baby

A Roanoke woman is dead, and a Montgomery man is in custody after a shooting on Mulberry Street in Roanoke Thursday afternoon.

Darius Cortez Barefield was arrested by Roanoke police after he was found at the scene where Narautica Lashea Patterson, 24, had been shot around 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Barefield has been charged with capital murder after the investigation into the incident indicated that he allegedly shot her from his vehicle in the presence of a child.

Patterson, who was just a few weeks removed from her 24th birthday, was reportedly holding her infant son when Barefield allegedly shot her through the driver’s side window of his 2004 Nissan Frontier.

The infant was not harmed in the shooting, according to Roanoke police chief Jonathan Caldwell, but Patterson’s wounds proved fatal.

According to the report from the Roanoke Police Department, officers arrived at the scene and saw the truck with a shattered driver’s side window and Barefield trying to assist Patterson with her wounds. Barefield had to be physically removed from the scene once emergency medical crews arrived in order to allow them to treat Patterson. Roanoke PD’s report also stated that Barefield repeatedly insisted that the shooting was accidental.

The arrest report shows that Barefield and Patterson were once in a relationship, although the full nature of that relationship is not publicly known.

Barefield was also charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct and is being held at the Randolph County Jail without bond.