Sandy MaloneBiloxi, MS – The infant who was shot in a gun battle between his kidnapper father and law enforcement near Biloxi on Monday died early on Tuesday morning at USA Children’s Hospital in Mobile, Alabama (video below).
The incident began at about 11:30 a.m. on May 3 at the home of the baby’s mother, 32-year-old Christin Parker, in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, WAFB reported.
Authorities said the baby’s father, 30-year-old Eric Derell Smith, allegedly shot the mother and her nephew, 26-year-old Brandon Parker.
Then Smith kidnapped the baby – later identified as four-month-old La’Mello Parker- and fled east, WAFB reported.
#BREAKING Biloxi Police confirm Eric Derell Smith’s 4-month old son died in the hospital this morning.
Smith had his baby with him during a police chase that started in Baton Rouge.
Smith died in gunfire off the I-10 in Biloxi. He is suspected of double murder in LA.@WLOX pic.twitter.com/2glpJqltQC
— Andrés Fuentes (@news_fuentes) May 4, 2021
Police spotted Smith’s vehicle at about 2:52 pm. near the Louisiana – Mississippi state line.
Dozens of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies and jurisdictions worked together to shut down roadways, slow down the suspect vehicle, WLOX reported.
Officers attempted to deploy stop sticks but Smith drove around them.
Authorities ended the pursuit with a PIT maneuver that brought Smith’s car to a halt in the grass on the median strip, WLOX reported.
The gun battle that ensued between Smith and police was captured on cell phone video and posted to social media.
It showed law enforced officers surrounding a blue car and exchanging a hail of gunfire with the suspect.
Smith was killed by police in the gunfight, WAFB reported.
It’s not yet know whose bullet struck the infant, WLOX reported.
#BREAKING Mississippi Highway Patrol and other agencies have the crime scene tape up around the area where they stopped a suspected murder from Baton Rouge.
The suspect started a police chase from Baton Rouge with a child and was stopped on the I-10 East in Biloxi.@WLOX pic.twitter.com/yOziNi8Z5n
— Andrés Fuentes (@news_fuentes) May 3, 2021
U.S. Marshals on the scene rushed to the car to get the baby as soon as the gunfire stopped, video showed.
He was transported to Merit Health in Biloxi and then transferred to USA Children’s Hospital in Mobile, Alabama on Monday night.
Officials initially said the baby was in stable condition, but Biloxi police announced Tuesday morning that he had died, WAFB reported.
Police said that La’Mello Parker had been born on Jan. 23 of this year.
More than 50 law enforcement vehicles from multiple agencies including Mississippi Highway Patrol, Louisiana State Police, Biloxi Police Department, the U.S. Marshal Service, and sheriff’s deputies from Harrison, Hancock, and Jackson counties were on the scene, WLOX reported.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
Holly Matkin
