'I begged them not to kill my baby': Two teens arrested for 'shooting dead 13-month-old toddler in his stroller as mother watched in horror' Demarquis Elkins, 17, and an unidentified 14-year-old boy attempted to rob Sherry West in Brunswick, Georgia but when she said she had no money, they shot her son in the head Police offer $10,000 reward for information about 'senseless killing' West also lost a 17-year-old son to a street stabbing in 2008
By Harriet Arkell and Associated Press
PUBLISHED: 04:30 EST, 22 March 2013 | UPDATED: 19:12 EST, 22 March 2013
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Two teenagers have been arrested for allegedly trying to rob a woman at gunpoint before yelling, 'Do you want me to kill your baby?' and shooting her 13-month-old son dead in his stroller.
Demarquis Elkins, 17, and a 14-year-old boy yet to be identified are being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, Police Chief Tobe Green said, adding that authorities are still searching for a motive.
Sherry West was pushing her son Antonio yards from their home in Brunswick, Georgia, early on Thursday morning when she was approached by the two boys.
She said Elkins demanded money from her and threatened to kill her if she didn't give him any, but she insisted she had nothing.
Scroll down for video Murdered: Baby Antonio was shot in the head as he slept by two boys who attempted to rob his mother
Murdered: Baby Antonio was shot in the head as he slept by two boys who attempted to rob his mother Elkins
Horror: Demarquis Elkins, 17, allegedly threatened Sherry West then shot her infant son when she didn't give him any money
'When you have a baby, you spend all your money on babies. They're expensive,' she said.
'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!"'
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She said he 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. Distraught: Antonio's mother, Sherry West, was pushed away when she tried to protect her son
Distraught: Antonio's mother, Sherry West, was pushed away when she tried to protect her son Grief: Antonio's father Luis Santiago tries to comfort Ms West at her apartment on Friday
Grief: Antonio's father Luis Santiago tries to comfort Ms West at her apartment on Friday
'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.'
Ms West began CPR on Antonio but it was in vain and the infant, who had been sleeping when he was shot, died at the scene of the 9am attack.
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.
Police combed school records to look for any absences and canvassed neighborhoods searching for the pair. They originally believed the boys were between 10 and 15 years old.
Police are investigating the attack, which took place in a residential neighborhood, but have not found a weapon.
Scene of the shooting: Antonio's upturned stroller still lies on its side
Scene of the shooting: Antonio's upturned stroller still lies on its side in the residential area of Brunswick Desperate hunt: Police have arrested a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old in connection to the crime
Desperate hunt: Police have arrested a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old in connection to the crime
Police spokesman Todd Rhodes urged anyone with information to call Brunswick police.
Antonio's father Louis Santiago said he wished he had been there to protect his son.
He told CNN: 'He was so special - he had the bluest, bluest eyes.'
After the attack Mayor Bryan Thompson said: 'This is obviously just a terrible day in the city of Brunswick made even more so by the senseless killing of a young child, and it appears perpetrated by children themselves.
'I would like to stress and plead with people in our community right now, people who are hearing my voice and seeing us standing here, you know something about this crime.' Antonio's father Louis Santiago wept as he described his regret he had not been there to protect his son
Antonio's father Louis Santiago wept as he described his regret he had not been there to protect his son
Antonio's father Louis clutches his son's pacifier as he tells a reporter about his murdered toddler
Antonio's father Louis clutches his son's pacifier as he tells a reporter about his murdered toddler
It's not the mother's first loss of a child to violence. Sherry 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. Police hunt for teens who shot dead baby in mugging
