CLEVELAND (AP) — A man fatally shot his 2-year-old son in
the head when he fired into the window of a home during a dispute with
the child’s mother, Cleveland police said Tuesday.
Police said the
boy was standing on a landing when he was struck early Tuesday and was
taken to a hospital, where he died. The Cuyahoga County medical
examiner’s office identified the child as Derrice Alexander Jr., of
Cleveland.
Police said his father fled the scene and was later
arrested but wasn’t immediately charged, so they declined to confirm his
name during an afternoon news conference.
Police Chief Calvin
Williams said the man is a convicted felon and should not have had the
weapon, which investigators allege he dumped in a garbage can before
fleeing. Williams declined to give details about the suspect’s criminal
record.
He said the shooting was a tragedy that might have been prevented if someone who knew about the weapon
had called police.
"We
have to change the culture one person at a time, one incident at a
time," Williams said. "I mean, in this case, I don’t think anybody would
see themselves as a snitch if they could have prevented this."
Police are trying to determine where the man got the gun. Homicide investigators indicated he was
cooperative, Williams said.