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TAMPA, Fla. -- A 7-year-old boy fatally beat his baby half-sister with his fists, feet and a two-by-four because he was jealous of the attention she was receiving and because she wouldn't stop crying, police said Wednesday.
Now, the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office is trying to decide whether it should file charges against the boy in the attack that rattled even veteran homicide detectives.
The unidentified boy was not taken into custody and is living with his mother in Lakeland while prosecutors make their decision. The attack occurred May 22 at the home of the boy's father in Tampa.
Seven-month-old Jayza Laney Simms was dead on arrival at St. Joseph's Hospital where her parents rushed her. Police declined to release the names of the boy or his parents, who are witnesses in the case.
Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said detectives began focusing on the boy after witnesses were able to vouch for the parents not having been alone with the baby at the time of the attack. The boy confessed to killing his sister a week after she died when detectives confronted him with the evidence, McElroy said.
"The veteran detectives who worked on this case have never seen a case with someone as young as a 7-year-old show so much violence and so little remorse," McElroy said. "The only explanation he gave is he wanted her to stop crying."
The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office did not immediately return telephone calls for comment Wednesday.
The boy had been visiting his father in Tampa, where he lived with his girlfriend and their two daughters, police said. A second child was also in the house at the time of the attack but was not harmed.
Police said the father and his girlfriend were outside visiting with neighbors when the boy came to them about midnight and told them the baby was "bleeding." They found the girl with a bloody nose and said she wasn't breathing.
McElroy said the adults heard no commotion or noise from inside the house.
Detectives later learned the baby had started crying and the boy picked her up and began beating her. Initially he told detectives he dropped the baby, and then later blamed other family members for hurting the infant before telling them what he had done, McElroy said.
The told detectives he had kicked, punched and then hit his half-sister with a two-by-four piece of wood that was found in the home.
The father and his girlfriend later told detectives the boy had been jealous of his half-sisters, but not to the point that they were concerned about the girls' safety, police said.
"The only person who was alone with the child was the 7-year-old," McElroy said. "They (the father and his girlfriend) didn't want to believe the 7-year-old
http://www.local6.com/news/4556339/detail.html
Now, the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office is trying to decide whether it should file charges against the boy in the attack that rattled even veteran homicide detectives.
The unidentified boy was not taken into custody and is living with his mother in Lakeland while prosecutors make their decision. The attack occurred May 22 at the home of the boy's father in Tampa.
Seven-month-old Jayza Laney Simms was dead on arrival at St. Joseph's Hospital where her parents rushed her. Police declined to release the names of the boy or his parents, who are witnesses in the case.
Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said detectives began focusing on the boy after witnesses were able to vouch for the parents not having been alone with the baby at the time of the attack. The boy confessed to killing his sister a week after she died when detectives confronted him with the evidence, McElroy said.
"The veteran detectives who worked on this case have never seen a case with someone as young as a 7-year-old show so much violence and so little remorse," McElroy said. "The only explanation he gave is he wanted her to stop crying."
The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office did not immediately return telephone calls for comment Wednesday.
The boy had been visiting his father in Tampa, where he lived with his girlfriend and their two daughters, police said. A second child was also in the house at the time of the attack but was not harmed.
Police said the father and his girlfriend were outside visiting with neighbors when the boy came to them about midnight and told them the baby was "bleeding." They found the girl with a bloody nose and said she wasn't breathing.
McElroy said the adults heard no commotion or noise from inside the house.
Detectives later learned the baby had started crying and the boy picked her up and began beating her. Initially he told detectives he dropped the baby, and then later blamed other family members for hurting the infant before telling them what he had done, McElroy said.
The told detectives he had kicked, punched and then hit his half-sister with a two-by-four piece of wood that was found in the home.
The father and his girlfriend later told detectives the boy had been jealous of his half-sisters, but not to the point that they were concerned about the girls' safety, police said.
"The only person who was alone with the child was the 7-year-old," McElroy said. "They (the father and his girlfriend) didn't want to believe the 7-year-old
http://www.local6.com/news/4556339/detail.html
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