Kaiheem Williams said the gun fired while he handled a trigger lock, but prosecutors argued the evidence told another story.
MEDIA, Pa. — A Delaware County jury rejected Kaiheem Williams’ claim that he accidentally shot his pregnant girlfriend, leading to a 22-to-44-year prison sentence for third-degree murder and related crimes.
The April conviction and May 21 sentencing followed the November 2024 death of 19-year-old Tanyiah Bell in the Lansdowne apartment she shared with Williams. Bell was eight months pregnant. Her daughter survived emergency surgery and was later named Miracle Bell. Williams, 20, was found guilty of third-degree murder, aggravated assault of an unborn child and possessing an instrument of crime.
Williams took the stand during trial and gave jurors his version of the shooting. He said he was handling a .45-caliber handgun and trying to attach a trigger lock. He said he believed the weapon was unloaded when he dry-fired it. Instead, the gun fired. Williams said the room went quiet, he lowered his arm and saw that Bell had been shot in the head. He said he touched her and she began to bleed. “I think she’s dead,” he testified he shouted while shaking her. He told jurors he did not intend to shoot Bell, saying, “I didn’t want that to happen.”
Prosecutors asked jurors to look beyond that testimony. They argued that the physical evidence did not match a simple accident inside the bedroom. Bell was watching television when she was shot, authorities said. The gun was not found beside her. Police said Williams had a .45-caliber bullet in his pocket. Investigators also had doorbell video showing Williams leaving the apartment about 15 minutes before he reported the shooting. Assistant District Attorney Danielle Gallaher had earlier argued that an accidental shooting would have left the firearm near the victim. The prosecution said enough time passed for the gun to be hidden in a way trained officers could not immediately find.
The defense had tried to frame the case around the absence of proof that Williams planned to kill Bell. At a preliminary hearing, defense attorney Eugene Gibbons said there was no sign of yelling, a fight or a domestic disturbance before the gunfire. He argued that the record did not show premeditation. That argument mattered because Williams initially faced a first-degree murder charge, which requires proof of a specific intent to kill. The jury ultimately convicted him of third-degree murder, a Pennsylvania charge that carries serious prison time but does not require the same proof of intent as first-degree murder. The verdict still meant jurors found criminal malice in Bell’s death.
The statements Williams made after the shooting became part of the trial record. Police said he called 911 from Bell’s phone after the shot. When officers reached the apartment, he led them inside and said, “My baby is shot.” He told first responders he had blacked out after smoking and used phrases that authorities said meant he was high. “I was fried, man,” he said, according to the complaint. “I was outside smoking.” Later, in interviews, Williams said he had returned from work, spent about an hour eating and smoking with Bell, left for a store and came back while Bell was watching TV. He said his next memory was calling for help.
Bell’s pregnancy changed the urgency of the emergency response. Officers and medics saw that Bell was clearly pregnant and moved her to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center so doctors could try to save the child. The baby was delivered alive during emergency surgery, but police said the infant had minimal neurological brain activity and an irreversible condition. At first, doctors did not expect the child to live without life support. The baby survived and was named Miracle Bell by her grandmother. Family members later said the child still needed machines and nearly constant care but had begun moving her arms, legs and head.
The courtroom record tied together three timelines: the minutes before the 911 call, the medical fight after Bell was shot and the months of litigation that followed. The shooting happened Nov. 14, 2024. Williams was charged after investigators gathered his statements, video and other evidence. A preliminary hearing in February 2025 kept the case moving toward trial. The jury returned guilty verdicts in April 2026. Judge Margaret Amoroso then imposed the 22-to-44-year term in Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. The sentence reflected Bell’s death, the injury to Miracle before birth and the use of the handgun.
At sentencing, the judge spoke directly to Bell’s mother, Tylicia Bell. “I wish I had the power to bring Tanyiah back, and if I could, Tylicia, I would,” Amoroso said. “I see your pain, I do. I see it, but I can’t imagine it.” The remarks followed testimony and statements that showed how the killing continued to affect Bell’s relatives. They had lost a daughter weeks before she was expected to give birth, then became responsible for a medically fragile child whose survival was uncertain from the start.
Williams’ own words gave the case one of its starkest moments. He told jurors that he did not understand how the gunfire happened and said, “It wasn’t supposed to happen at all.” But the jury did not accept an outcome that left him without criminal responsibility. By finding him guilty of third-degree murder, jurors decided the shooting was not proven as an intentional, premeditated killing but also was not an innocent mistake. The aggravated assault conviction also showed they found him responsible for the harm to Bell’s unborn daughter.
Bell’s family has described Tanyiah as a recent high school graduate preparing for motherhood. The apartment where she died became the scene of an investigation into a gun, a missing weapon and the meaning of Williams’ own statements. For Miracle, the case began before birth and continues through medical care. For Williams, the verdict turned his account of a sudden accident into a felony sentence measured in decades.
Williams is now serving the sentence imposed by Judge Amoroso. The case may continue through appeals, but the jury’s findings stand unless a higher court changes them. Miracle Bell remains in the care of relatives as the family marks life after the trial.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.