Pensacola police looking for suspect who killed toddler

On behalf of Terence Gross of Gross & Schuster, P.A. posted in Wrongful Death on Monday, July 25, 2011.

As a result of a senseless crime in Pensacola last weekend, a 19-month-old toddler is dead and another man has been injured. A warrant went out for the killer’s arrest in connection with the toddler’s wrongful death last week. And, over the weekend, his apparent accomplice was arrested, although police warned they are still looking for the other suspect.

The 19-year-old man accused of the killing is wanted on an open count of murder in connection with the murder of the toddler, as well as one count of aggravated battery – for shooting a 23-year-old man – and a count of firing a weapon into an occupied building.

The man, who is from Cantonment and is believed to be hiding in Louisiana, where his counterpart was arrested, apparently fired shots into a Pensacola apartment complex in the afternoon on July 15. According to North Escambia, multiple shots were fired into the complex shortly after several people nearby were involved in a drug transaction.

The shots apparently struck the 19-month old and the 23-year-old man. The suspect apparently shot threw the kitchen window and stuck the victims, who were in the living room at the time. The toddler later died at a local hospital. The wounded man was also reportedly treated for his injuries.

A supervisor in the police department’s Criminal Investigations Division says the suspect at large should be considered armed and dangerous. The mayor had reportedly allowed the department to use whatever means necessary to identify the suspects and proceed with the investigation. It was not clear what role the accomplice played in the crimes.

Source: North Escambia, “Warrant issued for former Cantonment resident for infant’s murder,” 20 July 2011