Mother Charged With Shooting Own Fetus

A mother charged with trying to kill her baby by shooting a pellet into his head while he was in her womb was ordered Friday to undergo a psychiatric assessment.

Brenda Drummond, 28, was arrested after being released from an Ottawa hospital Thursday. She is charged with attempted murder and committing an offense with a firearm.

The charge alleges Drummond tried to kill her unborn son two days before she gave birth alone in the bathroom of her home west of Ottawa. She has two other children.

Police have released few details about the case, and have not specified how the pellet got into the baby’s head or whether the mother had any visible wounds. There was no visible wound to the baby and doctors didn’t detect the injury until they did a brain scan three days after he was taken to hospital.

Drummond’s husband Paul, an auto mechanic, did not know she was pregnant. She worked until she delivered the baby.

The baby is 8 days old and is in a hospital in critical but stable condition. He is suffering from meningitis, a disease of the nervous system that is linked to the wound.