The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged a 21-year-old man Wednesday in the fatal October 2020 shooting of a pregnant woman, authorities said.
Detectives have arrested Charles Jones, who was already in custody this week at Santa Rita Jail after his arrest in connection with what police described as a gang-related Berkeley shooting. Jones is suspected of firing the shot that killed Sereinat’e Henderson, 19, who was pregnant at the time.
According to prior reporting by this news organization and charging documents shared Wednesday, police responded shortly before 7 p.m. Oct. 21, 2020 to reports of gunshots near Harper and Prince streets. They arrived to find Henderson suffering from at least one gunshot wound inside a black Honda Accord.
Officers soon learned the vehicle, with Henderson, her mother, 14-year-old brother and her 10-month-old son inside, had been riding through Prince and Ellis streets when it was shot at multiple times. Henderson, who was about eight to 10 weeks pregnant with her second child, was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The shooting led the city of Berkeley to offer a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction in the case, which investigators tackled for multiple months, working from witness accounts and surveillance video showing a man firing at the vehicle before driving away in an older white sedan.
On Wednesday, police credited search warrants and electronic and forensic evidence with helping to identify Jones as the suspect. Officers had previously arrested Jones in 2019 on suspicion of gun possession after recovering a machine gun from him in connection with a shooting in the 2800 block of Milvia Street. He was on probation when Henderson was shot.
A month after Henderson’s death, Jones was arrested in connection with a June 2020 shooting in South Berkeley that targeted a person known to Henderson. When he was arrested, he had an assault pistol, and a female friend told investigators that he had given her a 9mm pistol to hold in her purse.
After investigators obtained a warrant Jan. 7 for Jones’ arrest in the Henderson case, they interviewed him Monday at Berkeley police headquarters. Jones told them to speak with his lawyer.
On Wednesday, the district attorney’s office charged Jones with murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, attempted murder, assault with an automatic firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon, and added additional charge-related enhancements.
“The tragic loss of Sereinat’e caused emotional pain and suffering to her family, loved ones and the entire Berkeley community,” police said in part Wednesday.
“The Berkeley Police Department shares in the senseless loss of this young mother to gun violence and will continue to work to reduce and prevent gun crimes that threaten the safety of our community.”
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
