The DeKalb County teen accused of fatally stabbing her 2-year-old sister in the chest was showered with love Tuesday afternoon as a judge read her charge of murder.
“We love you,” the 13-year-old girl’s step-father Shelton Ray said loudly in the DeKalb magistrate courtroom, saying her name, and being parroted by her mother and aunts.
Then her mother burst into tears.
Police have charged the teen as an adult in the death of Sasha Ray.
“The cause of death is multiple stab wounds to the chest,” DeKalb County police spokeswoman Mekka Parish told reporters. “Detectives believe the 13-year-old attacked the child in the house then carried the body outside where it was discovered by her father.”
The teenager reportedly was babysitting her siblings Monday at the family’s condominium on Waldrop Trail near Decatur when the incident occurred.
Ray said he had been away from the house with his wife and left the teen in charge.
Emergency dispatchers received a call from Shelton Ray shortly before 1 p.m. on Monday, but then he put down the phone, Parish said.
Ray told Channel 2 Action News that he tried to take the child to the hospital himself.
He intercepted an emergency vehicle along the way, but it was too late.
“She died in my arms,” he said.
Support real journalism. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today. See offers.
Your subscription to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution funds in-depth reporting and investigations that keep you informed. Thank you for supporting real journalism.
Download the new AJC app. More local news, more breaking news and in-depth journalism. AJC.com. Atlanta. News. Now.
Download the new AJC app. More local news, more breaking news and in-depth journalism. AJC.com. Atlanta. News. Now.
With the largest team in the state, the AJC reports what’s really going on with your tax dollars and your elected officials. Subscribe today. Visit the AJC's Georgia Navigator for the latest in Georgia politics.
Your subscription to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution funds in-depth reporting and investigations that keep you informed. Thank you for supporting real journalism. Visit the AJC's Georgia Navigator for the latest in Georgia politics.