Posted on March 22, 2013

Dozens of Leads in Georgia Baby Shooting Case

CNN, March 22, 2013

The case of a 13-month-old boy shot dead in his stroller in this tiny waterfront town in southeast Georgia left authorities groping for more leads Friday as they searched for the killer.

{snip}

Police have received more than 30 leads and have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the killer, he told reporters.

Sherry West told CNN affiliate WAWS that she was pushing her son in the stroller at 9 a.m. Thursday when two boys approached and demanded money, then wounded her and fatally shot her boy when she failed to give them any.

“He said, ‘I’m gonna kill you if you don’t give me your money,’ and I said, ‘I swear, I don’t have any,’ ” West said. “I put my arms over my baby and he shoves me and he shot my baby right in the head.”

Both boys then ran into a residential neighborhood of this seaside Georgia town about 30 miles north of Florida, she told police.

The woman told reporters that one of the attackers appeared to be 13 to 15 years of age, and the other was as young as 10.

{snip}

After stating that “there is no clear motive right now,” the public information officer was asked about West’s account of having been asked for money. “That is what the mother said,” he said. “We as law enforcement, we can’t go off of what anyone says. We have to thoroughly investigate this case.”

{snip}

“This is obviously just a terrible day in the city of Brunswick,” Mayor Bryan Thompson told reporters Thursday, “and made even more terrible by the senseless killing of a young child. And it appears perpetrated by children themselves.”

{snip}

[Editor’s Note: According to the 2010 US Census, Brunswick, GA, is 59 percent black and 36 percent white. Also, a 17-year-old De’Marquise Elkins (photo below) and a 14-year-old have been arrested in connection with the murder. ]

De'Marquise Elkins

De’Marquise Elkins