DeKalb County

Father intentionally killed his 5-year-old son, police say

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County police say they are investigating a homicide involving a child.

The incident happened on Rocky Pine Drive in DeKalb County Wednesday night.

Police told Channel 2's Carl Willis that a father killed his 5-year-old son.

“Children in the back of the police car. There's a lady and other children sitting on the corner and the coroner was taking the body,” one neighbor, who did not identify themselves, told Willis.

Police said the young victim lived at the home with his grandmother.

On Wednesday, the boy's father and mother arrived in town from California and showed up at the grandmother's house unannounced.

At one point the mother and grandmother left the father at the home with his son and three other children.

"They came home and learned that the child had been murdered,” Shiera Campbell with the DeKalb County Police Department said.


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Police said the father used a shovel to kill the child.

"Right now, the father is in custody. He is a 25-year-old male. There were other children in the home as well. They were not harmed and this was an isolated incident," Campbell said. 

Willis said everyone from neighbors to the officers were visibly shaken by the scene that police say includes both inside and outside of the home.

"We do have the chaplain on the way to talk to officers and anyone else who may need to talk about what it is they witnessed today because it is difficult situation when a child has been killed especially in this manner," Campbell said.

"It's crazy, especially when you see the children walk up and down the street every day," the neighbor told Willis.