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Baby fatally shot in stroller on Brunswick street; mother wounded



Massive hunt under way Thursday in 100-block area of Brunswick's south end


BRUNSWICK - A 13-month-old child was fatally shot Thursday and his mother was wounded as she pushed him along a city street in a stroller.

Brunswick Police Chief Tobe Green said no motive for the attack had been determined.

The two assailants were teens or younger, the mother said. She said she didn’t who they were.

No arrests have been made.

The child was shot in the face and died at the scene, and the mother was shot in the leg and taken to Southeast Georgia Health System’s Brunswick hospital.

The mother, who along with her son was not identified, described the shooter as a black male, 13 to 15 years old, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9, slender and wearing a red shirt. He was accompanied by another black male who she said was 10 to 12 years old and wearing a black shirt.

The shooting took place about 9:15 a.m. as the victims strolled along London Street in the city’s historic Old Town district.

The mother lived in a rental house just around the corner on Union Street, police said. Neighbors across the street said they did not know her.

“The situation we had here this morning is quite disturbing,” Green said.

Every police agency in Glynn County and some from outside the county sent officers to help in the door-to-door search.

The interagency Brunswick-Glynn County Violent Crimes Task Force came to the scene. The Camden County Sheriff’s Office sent a tracking dog team and other deputies, and Georgia Department of Natural Resources rangers were also in on the search.

A DNR helicopter flew slowly overhead and four Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents worked the crime scene.

The searchers wore bulletproof vests and some carried shotguns or fully automatic rifles.

“Whatever we can do to help the city, that’s what we’re going to do,” Glynn County Sheriff Neal Jump said.

The police presence had diminished by nightfall, however, as many of Glynn County's officers responded to a brief armed standoff at a house just north of the city limit.

Residents began venturing out, most of them walking dogs. A few stopped to talk to neighbors turned toward the block where the child was killed. None said they knew the victims.

Brunswick Mayor Bryan Thompson appeared angry as he spoke at a news conference, urging any citizens with knowledge of the crime to contact police.

“If you know something and don’t call, you are complicit in this crime,” he said.

Glynn Academy high school, two blocks north of the crime scene, was put on lockdown for 45 minutes following the shooting, and Glynn Middle School several blocks south was put on alert, Glynn County schools spokesman Jim Weidhaas said.

“It’s just a preventative measure,” he said. “We’re doing what we can to keep the students and staff over there safe.”

The lockdown was lifted even as the search for the two suspects continued, but the school system’s police officers were posted at all the access points to Glynn Academy.

As school let out at Glynn Academy, police maintained a strong presence, patrolling and keeping up the search for the suspects.

Thursday afternoon, Travis Young walked his dog Luna. Young and his wife have lived 18 years about half a block from the scene of the child’s death in one of the many restored houses in Old Town.

“It’s troubling,’’ he said. “That’s just unbelievable.”

He mentioned another recent shooting a few blocks north.

“There have been random acts of violence, but I’ve never felt unsafe,’’ he said.

A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction in the shootings, Green said.

Anyone with information should call Silent Witness at (912) 267-5516 or the county police hotline at (912) 264-1333.