A pregnant US Navy veteran has been killed by a stray bullet during a shootout in a North Carolina nightclub.

Precious Vernetta Dyer, 28, who was four months pregnant, was fatally shot at Evolution Music Hall in the city of Wilson in North Carolina at around 1.30am on 26th December.

During the Christmas event, an argument broke out that resulted in a gunfight. The police said Dyer was not involved the row or the shooting.

The Wilson County Sheriff’s Office said she was an “innocent patron at the event”.

The victim, who served with the US Navy for seven years, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Due to the large number of people at the event, the police have asked for the public to come forward with any information that may lead to the arrest of the shooter.

Her mother Tijuana Locus said: “It’s been terrible. For me, I know that Christmas will never be the same.

“Someone knows who did it. Tell, call. If it was your daughter… you’d like to know who shot them, who took their life.”

The mother said she saw on Facebook that there had been a shooting at the club and began messaging her daughter, who she knew was at the event.

She said: “I was sending her messages via Facebook, and she was not answering me. That’s what made me upset and nervous.”

She was then told that her daughter had been shot and received a call from the police while on the way to hospital informing her that she had passed away.

She added that the family is stunned by Dyer’s death, calling her daughter “adventurous” and revealing she liked hang gliding.

The victim had planned to marry her boyfriend, the father of her unborn baby, in January 2022.

The investigation is ongoing.