1-year-old boy shot dead in stroller
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BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A pair of teenagers was arrested Friday and accused of fatally shooting a 13-month-old baby in the face and wounding his mother during their morning stroll through a leafy, historic neighborhood.
Sherry West had just been to the post office a few blocks from her apartment Thursday morning and was pushing her son, Antonio, in his stroller while they walked past gnarled oak trees and blooming azaleas in the coastal city of Brunswick.
West said a tall, skinny teenager, accompanied by a smaller boy, asked her for money.
"He asked me for money and I said I didn't have it," she told The Associated Press Friday from her apartment, which was scattered with her son's toys and movies.
"When you have a baby, you spend all your money on babies. They're expensive. And he kept asking and I just said 'I don't have it.' And he said, 'Do you want me to kill your baby?' And I said, 'No, don't kill my baby!'"
One of the teens fired four shots, grazing West's ear and striking her in the leg, before he walked around to the stroller and shot the baby in the face.
Seventeen-year-old De'Marquis Elkins is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, along with a 14-year-old who was not identified because he is a juvenile, Police Chief Tobe Green said. It wasn't immediately clear whether the boys had attorneys.
Police announced the arrest Friday afternoon after combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods searching for the pair. The chief said the motive of the "horrendous act" was still under investigation and the weapon had not been found.
"I feel glad that justice will be served," West said. "It's not something I'm going to live with very well. I'm just glad they caught him."
West said detectives showed her mugshots of about 24 young men. She pointed to one, saying he looked like the gunman.
"After I picked him, they said they had him in custody," West said. "It looked just like him. So I think we got our man."
West said she thought the other suspect looked much younger: "That little boy did not look 14."
The slaying happened around the corner from West's apartment in the city's Old Town historic district. It's a street lined with grand Victorian homes from the late 1800s. Most have been neatly restored by their owners. Others, with faded and flaking paint, have been divided into rental units like the apartment West shared with her son. The slain boy's father, Luis Santiago, lives in a house across the street.
A neighbor dropped off a fruit basket and then a hot pot of coffee Friday as a friend from the post office dropped by to comfort West.
Santiago came and went. At one point he scooped up an armload of his son's stuffed animals, saying he wanted to take them home with him. He talked about Antonio's first birthday on Feb. 5 and how they had tried different party hats on the boy.
"He's all right," Santiago told the boy's mother, trying to smile. "He's potty training upstairs in heaven."
West said her son was walking well on his own and eight of his teeth had come in. But she also mourned the milestones that will never come, like Antonio's first day at school.
"I'm always going to wonder what his first word would be," West said.
Beverly Anderson, whose husband owns the property where West has lived for several years, said she was stunned by the violence in what's generally known as a safe neighborhood where children walk to school and families are frequently outdoors.
Jonathan Mayes and his wife were out walking their dogs Friday, right past the crime scene, and said they've never felt nervous about being out after dark.
"What is so mind-numbing about this is we don't have this kind of stuff happen here," Mayes said. "You expect that kind of crap in Atlanta."
It's not the mother's first loss of a child to violence. West said her 18-year-old son, Shaun Glassey, was killed in New Jersey in 2008. She still has a newspaper clipping from the time.
Glassey was killed with a steak knife in March 2008 during an attack involving several other teens on a dark street corner in Gloucester County, N.J., according to news reports from the time.
"He and some other boys were going to ambush a kid," Bernie Weisenfeld, a spokesman for the Gloucester County prosecutor's office, told the AP Friday.
Glassey was armed with a knife, but the 17-year-old target of the attack was able to get the knife away from him "and Glassey ended up on the wrong end of the knife," Weisenfeld recalled.
Prosecutors decided the 17-year-old would not be charged because they determined that he acted in self-defense.
Sherry West had just been to the post office a few blocks from her apartment Thursday morning and was pushing her son, Antonio, in his stroller while they walked past gnarled oak trees and blooming azaleas in the coastal city of Brunswick.
West said a tall, skinny teenager, accompanied by a smaller boy, asked her for money.
"He asked me for money and I said I didn't have it," she told The Associated Press Friday from her apartment, which was scattered with her son's toys and movies.
"When you have a baby, you spend all your money on babies. They're expensive. And he kept asking and I just said 'I don't have it.' And he said, 'Do you want me to kill your baby?' And I said, 'No, don't kill my baby!'"
One of the teens fired four shots, grazing West's ear and striking her in the leg, before he walked around to the stroller and shot the baby in the face.
Seventeen-year-old De'Marquis Elkins is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, along with a 14-year-old who was not identified because he is a juvenile, Police Chief Tobe Green said. It wasn't immediately clear whether the boys had attorneys.
Police announced the arrest Friday afternoon after combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods searching for the pair. The chief said the motive of the "horrendous act" was still under investigation and the weapon had not been found.
"I feel glad that justice will be served," West said. "It's not something I'm going to live with very well. I'm just glad they caught him."
West said detectives showed her mugshots of about 24 young men. She pointed to one, saying he looked like the gunman.
"After I picked him, they said they had him in custody," West said. "It looked just like him. So I think we got our man."
West said she thought the other suspect looked much younger: "That little boy did not look 14."
The slaying happened around the corner from West's apartment in the city's Old Town historic district. It's a street lined with grand Victorian homes from the late 1800s. Most have been neatly restored by their owners. Others, with faded and flaking paint, have been divided into rental units like the apartment West shared with her son. The slain boy's father, Luis Santiago, lives in a house across the street.
A neighbor dropped off a fruit basket and then a hot pot of coffee Friday as a friend from the post office dropped by to comfort West.
Santiago came and went. At one point he scooped up an armload of his son's stuffed animals, saying he wanted to take them home with him. He talked about Antonio's first birthday on Feb. 5 and how they had tried different party hats on the boy.
"He's all right," Santiago told the boy's mother, trying to smile. "He's potty training upstairs in heaven."
West said her son was walking well on his own and eight of his teeth had come in. But she also mourned the milestones that will never come, like Antonio's first day at school.
"I'm always going to wonder what his first word would be," West said.
Beverly Anderson, whose husband owns the property where West has lived for several years, said she was stunned by the violence in what's generally known as a safe neighborhood where children walk to school and families are frequently outdoors.
Jonathan Mayes and his wife were out walking their dogs Friday, right past the crime scene, and said they've never felt nervous about being out after dark.
"What is so mind-numbing about this is we don't have this kind of stuff happen here," Mayes said. "You expect that kind of crap in Atlanta."
It's not the mother's first loss of a child to violence. West said her 18-year-old son, Shaun Glassey, was killed in New Jersey in 2008. She still has a newspaper clipping from the time.
Glassey was killed with a steak knife in March 2008 during an attack involving several other teens on a dark street corner in Gloucester County, N.J., according to news reports from the time.
"He and some other boys were going to ambush a kid," Bernie Weisenfeld, a spokesman for the Gloucester County prosecutor's office, told the AP Friday.
Glassey was armed with a knife, but the 17-year-old target of the attack was able to get the knife away from him "and Glassey ended up on the wrong end of the knife," Weisenfeld recalled.
Prosecutors decided the 17-year-old would not be charged because they determined that he acted in self-defense.
how do you possibly shoot a baby, i have zero idea.... insane little freaks
That is one of THE most disgusting things I have heard. I've said it before and I will say it again. What the f is wrong with our youth in society today? However, I'm going to play devil's advocate and maybe get blasted BUT her first son was killed by a target that HE (and other kids) were going to ambush. That makes him a criminal. Had he killed directly or been there if someone else killed the guy he would have been an accessory to murder or the murderer. I'm not justifying this act against her baby in anyway; I just think it's wrong that they are trying to illicit sympathy for her other son.
Sounds like a gang initiation. Who wants to bet $100 that the shooters mom is black with no daddy around, on welfare, popping out a kid every two or three years? Call me a racist but you have never seen this with your own eyes like I have.
It seems to me that black people are committing violent crimes way out of proprotion to there population. Only 15% of the US population, and only 8% of the WA state population is black. I have not done a scientific survey but it seems like almost half of the violent crime stories that hit the news are perpetrated by black people. Two possibilities are that the news only puts out the story if it is commited by a black person (very doubtful). It is also possible that I have recall bias and only remember the story when the perp is black (possible, but I don't think so). I try really hard not to be racist but this discrepency between population and crime rate seems so striking to me that I can't help but notice.  I'd love to hear from others as to what they think is going on.
@SCobert 40% of murders committed in the last 10 years were committed by blacks. Another 30% were committed by people of unknown race, so assume 40% of that 40% were black as well, making the percentage of homicides committed by blacks.
Something went down, and we're not hearing the full story. Â
You know I've just watched a couple videos of the mother and I have to say, it plants a seed of doubt. I think more of this story will come to light. Something just looks wrong and smells VERY fishy.
These two human beings are pure evil. It says in the bible that evil spreads just like yeast spreads through dough. The more we banish God from our lives, the more room there is for Satan to take over.  It's so sad and unfathomable to see children killing other children, but then that is the choice we as a society have made. If you don't choose God, then there is just one other choice, and he is the one you will have to live with for all eternity.  It's never too late to come to Christ.Â
@jasmine You seem to have this all figured out, but please don't tell US how to come to OUR  peace with the universe. What is it with religious people who absolutely will not stop trying to make (or force) other people think the same way they do? Also, isn't there a whole bunch of killing in your Bible, children and otherwise?
Burn these little thugs. Then go after their parents, if they have any.
I don't think they have parents. I think they lacked getting the loving care that would send a different message through their soul.
Ultra violent movies, ultra-violent videogames, posioned lyrics in song with pure overt evil intent. you tell me why...
@slave332Â that's right, i forgot-the Beatles are responsible for all the evil and violence in the world...
@slave332Â Video games and movies have nothing to do with it. It is the parent(s).
Kids these days have very little value for human life, that is for sure. RIP little one
You know, sometimes you read something that just breaks you. Â I simply cannot keep coming here to read the news. Â Even a guy like me has limitations and limits. Â All this negative stuff is just too damn depressing... I freaking cried reading this story, I cried. Â This place is not good for my mental status. Â A couple of others today said they were done with the boards today, but for different reasons. Â I too have had my fill. Â Take care people, I'm off to greener more positive pastures.
Oh, wow. I mean...WOW!
I think that these hoodlums should NEVER get out. EVER.
DO NOT treat them like juveniles. DO NOT let them EVER get out and do this again to anyone.
THESE are they type of offenders that need to be put away for life. If they think that killing an innocent baby in a baby stroller as a teenager is like a video game, guess what type of damage they can do later in life?
Does NEWTOWN come to mind?
"De'Marquis". Let me take a stab at this one. He's not white. He's not brown.
we need to arm 13 month old babies, yes that's the answer
"Dear Youth Of America, It has come to our attention that some of you think life is some kind of weird "Grand Theft Auto" video game, where you can run around killing people, stealing, lying and murdering children. I'm writing this to inform you that you are gravely mistaken, and as more of you do these types of crimes, while getting a swat on the tushie by our lawmakers, there are a growing number of us who are done with you and ready to end your miserable little lives if you step out of line within our line of fire. A lot of us are realizing that our government is only concerned with protecting THEIR asses from you pukes, and not us. We're good with that, because WE can end you WITHOUT months of arguing and red tape. Choose wisely kids. Choose wisely)
@Takamine Like!
@Takamine OMG, what is wrong with you? This makes you no better than they are. Who chose you as judge, jury and executioner? Maybe you should see a professional, you seriously need help.
Don't get your shorts in a knot, what Takamine is saying is that if the woman was armed, this probably would not have happened. I must say, I agree choose wisely oh young child of the streets!
@Magicalwoman The older kid already had a gun out.  What do you think would have happened if the woman had tried to go for a gun of her own?  (Please include the possible scenario where a stray round from her gun hits her own child in your consideration.)
@justmyopinion An opinion is just that, an opinion but of course you should already know that. Who are you to say who has to see a professional and who doesn't? Who gave you that right? -- See it works both ways.Â
what an awful story. i hope the younger one was truly an innocent tag -a- long hiding behind the shooter (this from another news source)  hopefully wanting no part of it all. we all grieve differently - but the media interviews by the parents so close to the tradgedy does seem out of place.  we all handle death in our way.  it will be interesting as the facts unfold.
These boys need very badly - to die. Wickedness incarnate.
That poor baby. That poor woman.Â
@Somewhere I agree, I can't imagine how horrifying that was for the mother. Could you imagine some punks killing your child like that? Something has gone very wrong in this country.Â
I read the CNN story and this update. So I'm waiting until they find the weapon and hear what these two have to say, becuase now there more questions.
There are only two stories and one has to be, the 17 year old has to be the coldest human scumb void of any feelings. Or the mother has another story.
I don't think the mother killed her own kid. I just can't wrap my head around the fact a kid skipped school and shoots a baby in the face. Why not shoot the only person who can ID them, sparing the life of the only wittness, that is crazy.
There has to more to this crime.
@snoopy84Â If indeed you read the story, you would see that he did shoot the mother. Lucky for her he's not a very good shot or she wou be dead too.
@justmyopinion @snoopy84 I read that. But something still nags at me. several shots were fired, maybe they ran out of ammo, that is why I'm waiting to find out what weapon was used.
If her story is straight up, they should discover the shooter used a revovler, low ammo count and no casing left behind. That may account for her being alive.
With all the crime we hear about, other than mass shootings, it is very rare a stranger just shoots a baby in the face. Most people who murder children are thier own fathers or mothers follwed by suicide. When was the last time you herad of the type of crime.
We hear of babies shot in drive bys, or cuaght in gang wars. but just walk up demand money then shoot a baby in the face in a fairly crime free part of town, is rare.
@snoopy84 @justmyopinion But apparently it's not unheard of, because that's what happened here. You know they've arrested two kids, right? The police and the people at the scene believe her, I'm not arrogant enough to think I know better than the people who were actually there.
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@joefuss It could be she has a condition where she doesn't produce tears, or she has cried so much she is dehydrated and can not produce any more tears.Â
@MomOf2 @joefuss I've been there before...no tears left.
@joefuss could it be shock of having a second child killed, maybe?
Hopefully they have the death penalty in Georgia.
@Shimes they do. but do they have the balls to try a 17 y.o. as and adult for this?
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) â Police arrested two teenagers Friday who are suspected in the shooting death of a 13-month-old baby in a stroller and wounding the babyâs mother during an attempted robbery.
Seventeen-year-old DeâMarquis Elkins is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, along with a 14-year-old who was not identified because he is a juvenile, Police Chief Tobe Green said.
Police announced the arrest Friday afternoon after combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods searching for the pair. The chief said the motive of the âhorrendous actâ was still under investigation and the weapon had not been found.
gruesome little bastidsÂ
It's being reported that the 17 year old suspect is Demarquis Elkins.Â
Yes, a 17year old and I guess a 14 year old was involved as well.
What are you reporting KOMO? Â
Update
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/22/us/georgia-baby-killed/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
@Northend The Fisher websites buy their news from the AP. The AP hasn't run an updated story about it yet.Â
2 youths were arrested. Breaking news from Lakeview. :)
A 17 year old and a 14 year old.Â
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/22/us/georgia-baby-killed/index.html
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@DarkParty @lakeview You are just determined to try and pin this on the mother aren't you? They have arrested the two kids involved and you are still convinced she had something to do with this? Maybe, just maybe, she was in shock when the media shoved their cameras in her face after her baby had just been murdered in front of her.
Everyone handles stress, anger, greif differently.
@DarkParty @Surveyor1 @lakeview Maybe it was their hope that if they gave an interview, the media would go away and leave them alone to grieve in peace. Probably too much to ask, many people seem intent on blaming this on the baby's mother.
@Surveyor1 @DarkParty @lakeview I am not convinced of anything, and there are a lot of holes in this story, And I find it very odd when a mother or father that literally just lost their child are willing to talk to the media, "Shoved their cameras in her face" in her front room???
@DarkParty @lakeview Or it could be that in her panic she kept her eyes on the one who had the gun and was doing the talking and only got a glimpse of the younger child.Â
Who knows what you would say after seeing your  baby blow away like this?What on earth can explain this? What is the thought process? Damaged goods for sure.
@DarkPartyÂ
@lakeview  Well, we're going to find out what's what. This story is not going away.Â
@lakeview I am going to venture a guess that it will unravel very rapidly from here, once they get the kids stories. If they talk that is.