A 1-year-old is dead after getting shot in the head by one of two masked men who broke into the Mesa apartment where the boy was sleeping this morning.
Mesa Sergeant Ed Wessing tells New Times the boy was sleeping with four other children on a pullout sofa in his grandmother's apartment near Main Street and Stapley Drive about 6:40 a.m. today when two men busted in the back door of the apartment.
The boy's grandmother, who was doing laundry when the two masked men broke into the apartment, exchanged words with the two men before one of them fired a round in the direction of the children.
The two suspects then fled the apartment. They were scene by a witness running through a nearby park.
The boy's grandmother, not yet realizing the infant had been shot, took
him to the apartment next door, where she had her neighbor call police.
The responding Mesa officer got to the apartment about a minute after
the 9-1-1 call was placed and started performing CPR on the wounded
infant, who still had a heartbeat.
The baby was taken to a nearby hospital where he died.
It's unclear what the two suspects wanted, but Wessing says police
aren't ruling out anything -- burglary, home invasion, or the
possibility that the break-in was drug related.
Mesa police plan to serve search warrants at the crime scene later today. Check back for updates.
Mesa police are asking that anyone with information contact silent witness at 480-Witness or www.silentwitness.org.
