Police Hunt Young Suspects in Baby Murder

Police were combing school records and canvassing a coastal Georgia neighborhood Friday for a pair of suspects between 10 and 15 years old accused of killing a baby in a stroller and wounding his mother in an attempted robbery.

The mother, Sherry West, told WAWS-TV that two boys approached her and demanded money Thursday morning while she was walking near her home in Brunswick, about 80 miles south of Savannah.

West said she insisted she didn't have any money and tried to protect her son, Antonio, before one of the boys opened fire.

"I put my arms over my baby and he shoves me, and then he shot my baby right in the head," West said.

West was shot in the leg.

"This is obviously a terrible day in Brunswick," Brunswick Mayor Bryan Thompson said. "Please call if you know something. You are complicit in this crime."

Police spokesman Todd Rhodes gave few details about the investigation Friday, but said no weapon has been found and that investigators were checking school 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. Rhodes described the neighborhood as safe.

"Understand this: There is no clear motive right now," he said.

He urged anyone with information to call Brunswick police. There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Officers from a SWAT team checked vacant houses as investigators tried to find possible witnesses. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources provided a helicopter for the search. A sketch artist from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was being sent to Brunswick.

"We will not rest until somebody has been arrested for this senseless act," Rhodes said.

The boy's father, Louis Santiago, told the TV station he wishes he could have been there to protect his family.

"He was special," Santiago said. "He had the bluest, bluest eyes."