TROUP COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators have widened their search for the person who shot and killed a pregnant woman.

She was driving on a busy highway when she was shot. She then ran off the road and crashed.

Initially, investigators told Channel 2′s Tom Regan they thought the incident was just a bad accident. But when they looked closer, they saw it was riddled with bullets.

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First responders found the woman unresponsive and pinned inside her wrecked car Tuesday afternoon.

“This was a targeted, senseless crime,” said Stewart Smith with the Troup County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators say Akeila Ware was driving along Highway 18 Tuesday afternoon when someone drove alongside her car and opened fire.

The bullets pierced the pregnant woman’s car door and stuck her. She ran off the road and crashed into a tree.

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“She was taken by ambulance to a Columbus area hospital in very bad condition and unfortunately she and her unborn baby were pronounced deceased at the hospital yesterday afternoon,” Smith said.

Investigators are now stepping up their efforts to find anyone who may have witnessed the chilling highway attack.

“There were several witnesses who saw her car and a potential suspect’s car, going down the road at the same time,” Smith said.

They believe the 29-year-old mother-to-be was killed by someone she knew, perhaps very well.

“Yes, not a random road. That’s why we want the community to know not to be fearful,” Smith said.

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Nolan Dedmon, who lives near the scene of the deadly shooting, told Regan it’s hard to believe.

“It’s terrible. It’s bad enough to get shot, but a pregnant woman really makes it bad,” Dedmon said.

‘’It is certainly on the top of our list to get his person behind bars, or if there is more than one person, which we really don’t know at this point,” Smith said.

Investigators told Regan that they have identified some persons of interest in the case but are still not ready to name a suspect.

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