ATLANTA — Atlanta police have arrested a mother and her boyfriend in connection with the death of a 3-year-old child.
Channel 2 Action News reporter Linda Stouffer spoke with a police detective who said the child died early Thursday morning and that the mother and boyfriend tried to get the girl to a hospital.
Police said the couple called for help and met an ambulance in a parking lot, but by then, it was too late. The child was unresponsive and did not survive. The couple now faces murder charges.
Police said the girl's mother and boyfriend beat her in the abdomen at a house on Woodlawn Street in northwest Atlanta.Stouffer knocked at the door, but found no one home.
"It's a horrible tragedy and we're still in the beginning stage of this investigation, so all the elements involving the beating are yet to be determined," said Atlanta police Lt. Paul Guerrucci.
Guerrucci told Stouffer that it is difficult to tell when the girl's injuries actually happened, but within three hours of being transported to the hospital Thursday morning, the child was dead.
"According to a preliminary autopsy report, the child appears to have died from internal injuries based on blunt force trauma," said Guerrucci. "My information leads me to believe they were both there. There was shared responsibility certainly."