My heart weeps

11 years ago

Antonio was just 13 months old.

UPDATE 4:24 p.m. -- BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) -- Police have arrested two teenagers suspected in the shooting death of a baby in a stroller and the wounding of the baby's mother.

Brunswick Police Chief Tobe Green said Friday that 17-year-old De'Marquis Elkins is charged with first-degree murder as an adult.

The 14-year-old is also charged with murder, but he was not identified because he is a juvenile.

The chief said police were still investigating the motive and searching for a weapon.

The mother, Sherry West, said she was walking near her home Thursday morning with her baby, Antonio, when she was approached by two boys who demanded money. She was shot in the leg and a bullet grazed her ear.

Original Story:

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- A Georgia woman said Friday a teenager trying to rob her at gunpoint asked "Do you want me to kill your baby?" before he fatally shot her 13-month-old son in the head.

Sherry West wept while she told The Associated Press that she pleaded with the gunman and a younger accomplice who approached her Thursday morning while she walked near their home in coastal Brunswick.

"He asked me for money and I said I didn't have it," she said. "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!'"

Police were combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods searching for the pair. While police have said the two boys were between the ages of 10 and 15, the mother says she believes the younger boy was as young as 5 years old.

She said the teen fired four shots, the first into the ground. West didn't see a shell casing ejected, and said she assumed the gun wasn't real.

Then he fired at her head and the bullet grazed her left ear - she has a small scab and bruising there. He fired again and shot her in the left leg above the knee. "I didn't know I was hurt."

"The boy proceeded to go around to the stroller and he shot my baby in the face," she said. "And then he just shoved me when I started screaming and he ran down London Street with the little boy."

Police spokesman Todd Rhodes gave few details about the investigation Friday, but said no weapon has been found and that investigators were checking school attendance records for leads.

Several people in the neighborhood called 911 after they heard the gunshots fired, but Rhodes said investigators believed that the mother was the only witness to what happened.

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Comments (26)

terilyn
11 years ago
I just saw this on the news, I hope the 14 year old is charged as an adult. Heartbreaking.
angela_nor_calif
11 years ago
I don't know what this world is coming to.
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eileen101
11 years ago
So sad...so crazy....so unbelievable
Holly_ON
11 years ago
Crying for the mother and baby. Can't help wondering if drugs are the root of this. We need to lower the juvie age. I know brains don't fully mature to age 21 but a 14 year old should have the concept that killing is wrong fully developed no matter how video games glorify it. Chalk another story up for the need for gun control.
Georgysmom
11 years ago
Senseless, absolutely senseless! Is it the violent videos that make these teenagers feelingless? I just don't understand it. So glad they got these boys. Prison is too good for them.
jannie
11 years ago
Terrible,terrible.
sleeperblues
11 years ago
Tragic. Better be charged as an adult. What a monster.
vicki7
11 years ago
I read that the 17 yr. old will be charged as an adult. I hope this savage stays locked up in solitary confinement for the rest of his sorry life. I don't believe this level of evil can even be rehabilitated.
marylmi
11 years ago
So sad!!! I hope the 17 yr.old gets the electric chair!! Why make the taxpayers keep him,he doesn't deserve to live either!
marie_ndcal
11 years ago
It is sad and much of this goes on without getting reported. I think the name of all juveniles should be posted. I also have compassion for the boys families. But then with all I see on TV, news media, programs, and other electronic gear, I am NOT surprised.
samkaren
11 years ago
Neither of them deserve to live IMO.
aqr32583
11 years ago
Put my name on samkaren's post.
susanjf_gw
11 years ago
they have no concept of life, do they? you have to wonder if their lifes were so callused they could take the life of an innocent...
marilyn_c
11 years ago
This has left me so sad and depressed ever since I heard about it. Literally sick at my stomach. I cannot imagine how that poor mother felt when confronted like that. And that poor little baby. Execution is too good for those monsters. What is this world coming to??
Holly_ON
11 years ago
Now the aunt has come forward with an alibi. Hhe was supposedly having breakfast with her during the time of the killing.
chloecat
11 years ago
Where are the hate crime charges?
glenda_al
Original Author
11 years ago
Breaks your heart

{{!gwi}}
GrammyMyrna
11 years ago
The father claims he blames the mother because he has told her numerous times not to walk the route she took in dangerous areas.

The mother, well, she's already packing up anything to do with the slain baby, giving some of it away. I guess she doesn't want any remembrance of him laying about the house. She also isn't keeping the baby's cremation ashes, - she had the funeral home "dispose of them".

Baby Antonio is back once again in the arms of his Creator; the One who will love him for Eternity.
jannie
11 years ago
Incredibly sad, especially that the 2 people responsible are really just children themselves. So many lives ruined.

This post was edited by jannie on Mon, Mar 25, 13 at 10:28
marylmi
11 years ago
A very odd way for the mother to act. Not even wanting to bury the baby's ashes? Such a sweet little guy.
rosemaryt
11 years ago
Sorry, but I do **NOT** agree with this comment (posted above):

"Incredibly sad, especially that the 2 people responsible are really just children themselves. At 17, I knew right from wrong but I didn't fully understand life and consequences."

Children don't have to "fully understand life" to know that it's wrong to commit murder.

An eight year old child can understand that it's wrong to inflict pain on other people.

The two "youths" that committed this heinous crime can't hide behind any excuses, IMHO.

I hope they're swiftly dealt with, and subjected to the harshest penalties our justice system can inflict.

My heart aches for that mother.
Holly_ON
11 years ago
I can't fault mom for not wanting the ashes. It is not the way she wants to remember her son. Right now, her decisions are being made under very intense grief with no preparatory time.
patti43
11 years ago
I would think the mother is in shock. She is packing up and moving out of Brunswick. She also had a son who was killed/died when he was a teen, I believe. Heard it on CNN but I was half asleep. I did see her interview and she was rightfully bitter and said she hoped they died and that she'd never forgive them. I have to agree with her statements. I couldn't either.
Lily316
11 years ago
My kids didn't step on ants when they were toddlers. They were taught by me that it was life, and we never kill anything. These kids were coldblooded killers who should get the death penalty which they won't. Now we have to house them the rest of their miserable lives. Little immoral cretins.
marilyn_c
11 years ago
I agree with Patti and Rosemary. I don't know how I would react if something like that happened to me. I can't even imagine it. I would be bitter....more than bitter. I don't think I would even want to live in this world any longer. How could anyone possibly cope with something that sudden, so tragic and cruel?
golfergrrl
11 years ago
deleted, will save thoughts for now...

This post was edited by lindakathy on Sun, Mar 24, 13 at 13:10

My heart weeps

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My heart weeps

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