Trigger warning: infant death, violence
Desire Guardiola, who was shot in the stomach during a home invasion, was forced to deliver her baby girl by emergency C-section at 34 weeks. Emery Skye fought bravely to survive but died just eight days after the attack, cradled by her mother and father.
Police say Andrew Nino and Kiara Paz, both 18, and Alyssa Brianna Vega, 29, kicked down Guardiola’s door in an attempt to rob the couple. Guardiola begged them to spare her and her unborn daughter. They have been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, a first-degree felony.
Police were dispatched on Saturday, July 20, to The Arts Apartments at Turtle Creek complex, 714 Turtle Creek Blvd. in Austin, Texas, just before 10 p.m. where they found Guardiola with gunshot wounds to the stomach. She was rushed to St. David's South Austin Medical Center in critical condition, and Emery was delivered before being transferred to Dell Children's Medical Center.
The Austin Police Department says 911 had received calls of shots fired at the apartment complex. Office and EMS medics responded and located Guardiola with gunshot wounds. Witnesses had provided first aid until officers and paramedics arrived. During the robbery, Nino had stolen some Xanax from the couple, while Paz took an Xbox and some items from Giardiola's purse before fleeing.
Police say Guardiola’s boyfriend didn't believe Nino’s gun was real, so he grabbed a knife and chased after the intruders, tackling Paz. According to court documents, Nino pointed his gun at Guardiola’s boyfriend and then shot her. They fled in a silver Infiniti. Both Nino and Paz were involved in a police pursuit and crash in the same car days after the shooting, according to the Austin Police Despartment.
Sadly, on Sunday, July 28, the baby girl had died at 6:40 p.m. Guardiola, who had been reunited with her daughter, was able bathe the little girl, change her diaper and be with her while she was weighed and had her temperature taken in the days before she passed. Ultimately, the couple decided to take the baby off life support to end her suffering. Still, Guardiola considers it a 'miracle' that Emery managed to breathe on her own for 30 minutes before passing away in her arms.
On Facebook, Guardiola, wrote about Emery, “You will always be my blessing and I’m so hurt that you’re missing from my arms but you’ll never be gone from my heart. You've impacted so many with your spirit and your fight baby girl. Play happily with all the other angel babies and the rest of our guardian angels.”
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“Oh how I fell in love with the feeling of you and the thought of the woman you'd one day be. I was blessed with you, my sweet Emery Skye, when I was most lost and needed a reason to live and be the best I could be. I am thankful for being able to carry you, love you, spend moments with you,” she added. ”You are ever so loved and you've been able to do things I as a woman was never able to do or never thought I'd have the power to do.... Bring people together to love and support one another and have an even stronger faith.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Guardiola's recovery and Emery's headstone.