Unresponsive 6-year-old taken to fire station dies, Georgia cops say. Man charged
A Georgia man is charged with murder in the death of a 6-year-old boy taken to an Atlanta fire station, according to the city’s police department.
Dashon Jones, 24, also faces a child cruelty charge after authorities said he beat Tobias Perkins Jr. to death while babysitting his girlfriend’s children, WXIA reported, citing arrest warrants.
Officers were called around 11:15 p.m. March 19 about an unresponsive child that was brought to Fire Station 14, Atlanta police said in a March 24 news release. Emergency medics rushed the child to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Further investigation led police to suspect Jones in the boy’s death, the department said. Warrants were issued for his arrest, but police said Jones was already in jail on unrelated charges.
McClatchy News contacted Fulton County Magistrate Court for the arrest warrants and was awaiting a response.
Authorities didn’t disclose Jones’s relationship to the child, but family members told WSB-TV that he used to date the boy’s mother.
In the warrants, officers accused him of striking Tobias “numerous times, causing massive internal bleeding and death,” WXIA reported. An autopsy revealed “multiple blunt-force injuries” to the boy’s head and torso, according to warrants obtained by the station.
Tobias’s father, Tobias Perkins Sr., described the loss of his son as “the worst feeling ever,” according to a GoFundMe page.
Police didn’t release additional details but said the incident remains under investigation.
This story was originally published March 25, 2024 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Unresponsive 6-year-old taken to fire station dies, Georgia cops say. Man charged."