Woman charged in shooting of 7-month-old child in Holmesburg; police say motive was $100 drug debt

A 28-year-old woman is accused of shooting a seven-month-old baby in the Holmesburg neighborhood on Thursday evening. According to police, the reason for the shooting was a $100 drug debt owed to the child’s parents.

Police arrested Dominique Billups of Northeast Philadelphia on Friday night and charged her with three counts of aggravated assault, possession of a murder weapon, reckless conduct and related offenses, Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum said at a news conference Saturday.

On Friday, police released surveillance video showing two people, identified by authorities as the parents of the 7-month-old victim, hanging out with a stroller on Meridian Street when a person – police say is Billups – approaches them and fires three shots at close range.

A woman screams. The shooter then appears to yell “F— your baby” at the mother and curses at her before fleeing the scene.

“The video is very disturbing,” Rosenbaum said Saturday, “and it looks like this all stems from a $100 drug debt, or so we’re told.”

Rosenbaum said investigators recognized Billups as an unrelated victim of an unrelated shooting that occurred in the same area in August 2022.

During their investigation, police obtained surveillance footage from businesses on Frankford Avenue that provided a clearer picture of Billups and the events leading up to the shooting.

Rosenbaum said Billups and the mother – who knew each other – were seen arguing. The mother left with the baby and met the father a few blocks away, but Billups followed the couple to Meridian Street, where the shots were fired.

After the shooting, Rosenbaum said, the parents also fled the scene because both had arrest warrants and were afraid of the police. A local resident took the toddler to the hospital, where he remains in stable condition. Rosenbaum said the parents called police an hour later and eventually went to the police station for questioning.

Police found three 9-millimeter shell casings at the scene. The toddler was hit once in the leg. Rosenbaum said the mother and father were not injured. Highway Patrol Unit officers tracked down Billups Friday evening and arrested her without incident.

Rosenbaum described the shooting as a petty dispute that needlessly escalated into gun violence – as is the case with many of the shootings that plague the city.

Shootings of children have become alarmingly common in Philadelphia, underscoring a national crisis in which gun violence is now the leading cause of death for Americans under 18. Last year, 24 children were killed in shootings in Philadelphia, some of them as young as two years old.

In total, more than 160 children were shot that year. The city is on track to reach that number this year: As of July 18, 80 children had already been shot, according to city council data.

Rosenbaum thanked residents and business owners in Holmesburg for their information that helped police get to Billups. He said care for the infant is being arranged in coordination with the Department of Human Services.

“The 7-month-old baby may not remember it,” Rosenbaum said of the shooting. “But it will always be there. That story will always be out there.”