On Sunday, an 18-month-old baby girl was fatally killed by her father in Georgia.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations confirmed the death of Jaquari Bennett. The Newton County Sheriff’s Office said the baby girl was tragically shot and killed by her father, 38-year-old Darian Javaris Bennett.
According to CNN, Covington police received a 911 call Saturday reporting a shooting. Police found 38-year-old Keshawn Washington shot and killed, while Washington’s mother, Peggy Burns, was injured but survived. Jaquari, however, was missing.
Sgt. Jack Redlinger said, “Darian Bennett was the one that shot the baby’s mother and took the baby with him and left the scene.”
Police then issued an Amber Alert for the baby, fearing Bennett had abducted her.
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On Sunday morning, Darian called the police, telling them he was at a church and planned to harm himself and the baby.
“Officers were able to track where the call came from and located a vehicle in the parking lot of a church and began searching for the man when they heard gunshots coming from the church,” Redlinger said. Officers then found Bennett and his baby girl dead inside a vehicle.
Police are still investigating the tragedy, explicitly trying to figure out why Darian killed his family.
Redlinger told Fox 5 Atlanta, “We just don’t know what triggered this. We don’t know if there are any mental issues. I’m not familiar with any arrests on him yet, so I’m not familiar with his background. Hopefully, in a couple days, we’ll have that information.”
However, a Georgia arrest warrant from April showed the deceased man was charged with felony terroristic threats and harassing phone calls. He also threatened to kill Washington in July. Darian was released on bond but required to stay away from Washington.
A 2019 Violence Policy Center study revealed
that “9 out of 10 Black women murdered by men are killed by someone they know and most often with a gun.”It also details that “the vast majority of homicides of Black females murdered by males were not related to any other felony crime. Most often, Black females were killed by males in the course of an argument.”
VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand said, “Lethal violence against women, particularly intimate partner homicide, is a national crisis with a particularly devastating impact on Black women.”
It’s tragic to see Black women harassed, murdered, and left unprotected in preventable situations like this.