Sacramento, Calif.- by Robert J Hansen
Shot while pregnant by father of the child
Jakizza Morgan was shot in the face on September 25, 2020, allegedly by Ying Xiong while she was pregnant with their daughter who is now in the custody of Sacramento County Child Protective Services (CPS) and in the care of Mia Xiong, Ying’s sister.
CPS wants to take away Morgan’s and Xiong’s parental rights to their daughter, Jaya.
Xiong was arrested for shooting Morgan and charged with attempted murder on August 26, 2021, nearly a year later.
Morgan was living in her car when a friend took her to the homeless encampment by the Norwood Levee where she used to live with Xiong.
Morgan and Xiong had been dating since 2016 and already had a child together named Penelope but had broken up a few months before he shot her.
“I was sleeping in my car and my friend Tracy came and got me,” Morgan said.
Morgan was in her friend's tent when she heard Xiong ask someone, “Is she in there?”
Morgan said she couldn’t hear Xiong for a few minutes when he came into the tent and asked for money to buy a car.
“Before that, he had called and asked for $200 to buy a car so he could get a job,” Morgan said.
“He said ‘Why did you make me do this?’ and that’s when he shot me,” Morgan said.
Morgan said she was conscious and remembers everything up to the point where she was given anesthetics by UC Davis surgeons.
She was self-conscious about choking her blood and kept spitting it out on the way to the hospital.
“I remember everything. I remember getting to UC Davis, them cutting my clothes off and putting me under,” Morgan said.
After a month in the hospital, Morgan moved to Reno with her sister, Joya, where her daughter Jaya was born on February 9, 2021.
CPS becomes involved
Morgan was living with her sister, Joya Greene, in Reno when she came back to Sacramento in August to visit friends of hers that are unsheltered.
“I only came here to visit my friends and bring them food and things,” Morgan said. “I would be back in Reno if I didn’t have this case now.”
Greene confirmed that Morgan had lived with her since getting out of the hospital in October 2020 and said she would accept custody of her niece if the County chooses to award her custody.
While Morgan was back in Sacramento, she let Jaya visit with her family and left her with another one of Xiong’s sisters.
Morgan could not get a hold of Jaya’s aunt when she went to pick her up on August 26.
Mee said that somebody called CPS and told them Jaya “wasn’t in a safe place'' with her mom.
“The County said it might have been my brother,” Mee said.
Mee said she would be ok if the County but that Morgan is not currently in the right place to have custody.
“I’ve been there once and it’s a nice house. I don’t know what the County is going to do and it’s up to them,” Xiong said.
Jaya has been living with her aunt since August 24, 2021. Penelope Xiong, Jaya’s older sister, has lived with Mee who has had guardianship of her since she was born in 2019.
“I don’t think they will give her to Jakizza unless she goes to all the classes they want her to go to,” Mee said.
Sacramento CPS alleges that Morgan has a substance use problem dating back to 2014, “from which she has failed and refused to rehabilitate, which impairs her judgment and ability to provide adequate care, supervision, and protection for her Jaya,” according to court documents.
None of the court documents mention that Xiong shot Morgan or that he is incarcerated.
Untreated substance abuse places the child at substantial risk of serious physical harm, abuse, and neglect according to CPS.
Morgan lives in an RV in Sacramento because she fears that if she leaves the county then she will lose her parental rights.
While Morgan fights the case, she gets two, hour-long visits with her daughter a week.
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