A mother and her girlfriend have been arrested in connection with the death of a 4-year-old Clayton County girl.
Jamila Hart’s death is being investigated as a homicide, Clayton County police spokeswoman JaQuitta Williams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday.
Jamila was pronounced dead Sunday at Southern Regional Medical Center after neighbors frantically tried to revive the little girl, who was unresponsive and not breathing in the apartment when police arrived at the River’s Edge Apartments in Jonesboro.
Neighbors told Channel 2 Action News they noticed the child was badly bruised. Police took the little girl’s mother, Danielle Hart, 24, and her girlfriend, Shardae Glover, 28, in for questioning. They were arrested on child cruelty and child deprivation charges.
The charges may be upgraded once the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office releases an exact cause of death, Williams said.
“She had bruises all about her body,” she said. “She had been beaten around her head. She had massive injuries. By the time we got to the home, the child wasn’t breathing. By the time we got to the hospital, she was pronounced dead.”
Neighbor Asia Cherry, a nursing student who tried to revive the little girl, told Channel 2 she asked the women if they had called 911.
“And the mother’s girlfriend … was like, ‘I’m going to jail. I’m going to jail,’ ” Cherry recalled.
“All you could hear is, ‘I don’t want to go to jail. I don’t want to go to jail,’ ” William Johnson, another neighbor who also tried to save the little girl, told the television station.
Shortly after being arrested and taken to the Clayton County jail, Glover attempted to commit suicide, Williams said. She was taken to the hospital. It was unclear late Thursday evening if Glover was still in the hospital or back in the jail, Williams said.
Two other children — both toddlers — were taken from the home and are in state custody.
Jamila would have celebrated her fifth birthday on Sept. 20.
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