- Friends and family crowded a Rochester church yesterday
to mourn a slain 3-year-old.
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- Not present was the boy's 6-year-old brother -- who authorities
say may be the youngest killer in area history.
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- "It's very hard for the mother. She's holding it
in. We're trying to get her to cry," said Sister Grace Miller, a family
acquaintance who attended the funeral.
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- The attack occurred May 20 during a baseball game at
a relative's home, said Police Chief Robert Duffy. The 3-year-old threw
a stone at the older child, who then hit the boy with a brick and repeatedly
struck him with a wooden, full-size baseball bat, Duffy said.
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- The next morning, the 3-year-old was unresponsive and
not breathing, authorities said. Rural/Metro Medical Services took him
to Rochester General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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- "This is a terrible, terrible tragedy, not only
for the 3-year-old, but for the entire family, including the older sibling,"
Duffy said. "In my 25 years as a police officer, I don't remember
anything close to this."
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- Under state law, a 6-year-old cannot be held criminally
responsible for a death. Children must be at least 7 to be charged as juveniles;
anyone 16 or older can be charged as an adult.
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- Family Court ordered that the 6-year-old be placed in
a foster home, in the care of the Monroe County Department of Social Services,
said agency Director Richard F. Schauseil. He said he could not comment
on what would happen to the child; that decision will be made by Family
Court, which typically closes its proceedings.
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- "She wants her 6-year-old back," Miller said
of the children's mother. "It was a tragic thing that happened."
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- The Police Department's Impact Team, which includes members
of the Monroe County District Attorney's Office and the Department of Social
Services, discussed the case yesterday.
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- Said Monroe County District Attorney Howard Relin: "Think
about charging a 6-year-old with criminal activity. None of us ... has
ever heard of anything like this. It's unique in all of our memories."
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- The brothers and other children were playing baseball
May 20 in the back yard of a relative's home on Dale Street when the 3-year-old
threw a rock or stone at his older brother.
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- "The 6-year-old then reacted," Duffy said.
"First, he used a brick to hit the boy in the lower body. The sibling
then struck the 3-year-old in the abdomen and back with a wooden baseball
bat, using over-the-head strikes to the back and abdomen."
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- Apparently, no other children intervened. Duffy was unsure
how many other children were there or their exact ages. He said the 3-year-old
was the youngest and the others were about 6 to 10. Police interviewed
some of the boys, said department spokesman Sgt. Carlos Garcia.
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- Police have not determined whether anyone was directly
supervising the children when the attack happened.
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- The 3-year-old and his brother were taken to their Hebard
Street home between 5 and 6 p.m.; Duffy said he didn't know who took them
home.
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- "The 3-year-old was quiet and he didn't eat,"
Duffy said. He added that the mother's boy-friend, who was baby-sitting
the two, said that the younger child appeared very lethargic. Duffy said
the boyfriend told police, "He (the 3-year-old) fell asleep on the
couch. The kids were bathed and went to bed."
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- The children slept together in the same bed, as usual.
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- The boyfriend did not notice any bruises while he was
bathing the two, Duffy said. Police were continuing to investigate whether
such injuries would cause bruising that could be noticed that quickly.
"The mother said the children normally play very rough," Duffy
said.
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- The boys' mother got home after midnight. Duffy said
he did not know where she had been.
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- "The next morning, the family awoke and the child
was found to be dead. He may have died during the night; rigor mortis had
set in," Duffy said.
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- The Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that
the boy died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen. Police and other officials
at the news conference did not name the children, or even the older child's
gender, because the case is in Family Court. Names of minors involved in
criminal cases are often withheld to protect their identity.
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- The boys' family was not available for comment yesterday.
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- Neighbors on Hebard Street said the family had been living
in the apartment for about three months. Nobody has spent a night in the
apartment since the boy died, they said.
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- Vandora Judge, who lives in the house beside the family's
apartment, said the mother knocked on her door about 8 a.m. May 21. "She
was screaming and yelling: 'My baby's dead, my baby's dead!" Judge
called the ambulance and went into the house and saw the child.
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- "He was dead then," she said. "And now
they're trying to say the baby did it? I don't believe it."
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- Family members fully cooperated with police, Duffy said.
"As of now, there are no charges pending."
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- Police held off on releasing the information for so long
because they were waiting for autopsy results and because police continued
to discuss the case with the District Attorney's Office. The Department
of Social Services had its own separate inquiries also going on, said Garcia.
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- Officials at yesterday's news conference would not talk
about the 6-year-old's prior behavior. The boy is undergoing an "intense
evaluation" of his mental health, Schauseil said.
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- About 100 friends and family members attended the 3-year-old's
two-hour funeral yesterday at Hope Deliverance Temple, 35 Flower St. It
was followed by burial at Riverside Cemetery.
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- "The church was overflowing," said funeral
director Serrell Gayton of Metropolitan Funeral Chapel on West Avenue.
"Standing room only."
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- Family members described the 3-year-old as "a cute,
loving little boy. He just charmed everyone," said Miller, director
of the House of Mercy, 725 Hudson Ave. "He was always happy."
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- Those attending the funeral heard words of comfort.
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- "Somehow in all this tragedy, something good will
come out of it," Miller said. "God will bring good from this
tragedy. We will hold them in our prayers, and we will support them."
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- Includes reporting by staff writers Greg Livadas and
Patrick Flanigan.
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