The coastal Georgia town of Brunswick has been rocked by the fatal shooting of a 13-month-old boy by two teen boys as he was pushed in a stroller by his mother.
Two suspects were arrested Friday by police and charged with first-degree murder.
According to the child’s mother, Sherry West, the shooting occurred when a youth tried to rob her, demanding money.
West said the incident happened at 9 a.m. Thursday when she was walking home from the post office. She was pushing her son, Antonio, in a stroller when she saw two boys.
“A boy approached me and told me he wanted my money, and I told him I didn’t have any money. And he said, ‘Give me your money or I’m going to kill you and I’m going to shoot your baby and kill your baby,’ and I said, ‘I don’t have any money,’ and ‘Don’t kill my baby.'”
West said the boy tried to grab her purse and opened fire when she tried to tell him she had no money. The shot grazed her head, then the boy shot her in the leg.
“And then, all of a sudden, he walked over and he shot my baby in the face,” she said.
West said she tried to perform CPR on her son and police took over after they arrived, but they couldn’t revive him.
“We lost him,” she said.
She said during the incident the smaller of the two boys was hiding behind the larger one, she said. “I don’t know whether it was his brother or a friend.”
Louis Santiago, father of the baby, told CNN on Friday: “I’m doing OK. I’m holding on.”
