Mother testifies in trial of teen accused of shooting her baby

MARIETTA, Ga., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The mother of a baby shot to death in his stroller testified in the Marietta, Ga., trial of the alleged gunman Tuesday, saying she tried to protect the child.

Following a struggle for her purse in Brunswick, Ga., in March, Sherry West said the defendant, De'Marquise Elkins, "asked me if I wanted him to shoot my baby."

Elkins, 17 at the time, then fired one shot from his .22 caliber handgun at the ground, then another near her head. A third struck West in the leg, she said, adding Elkins then approached the stroller and shot the 13-month-old Antonio Santiago.

"I put my arms over my baby, but he still shot him," West said in testimony.

Elkins is charged with malice murder, felony murder, child cruelty, attempted armed robbery and multiple counts of aggravated assault. His mother, Karimah Elkins is also on trial, accused of lying to police and throwing the handgun into a saltwater pond near Brunswick, WSB-TV, Atlanta, reported.

Another witness, pastor Wilfredo Calix-Flores, testified Tuesday Elkins shot him 10 days prior to the death of the child, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, adding a detective investigating the shooting of Calix-Flores linked the two incidents.

An alleged accomplice to the shooting of the child, Dominique Lang, was 15 years old at the time of the incident and will be tried separately as an adult, CNN reported.