Mom stabbed 5-year-old son before setting apartment on fire: police

A Georgia mom was arrested on homicide and arson costs after firefighters discovered her 5-year-old son with a number of stab wounds at a house whereas battling a fireplace at their house, in accordance with native police.

The little boy, recognized as 5-year-old Jayveon Pruitt, was discovered unresponsive with stab wounds on October 19 as firefighters responded to a fireplace on the residence he shared along with his mom in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, in accordance with the Gwinnett County Police Division (GCPD). Jayveon was taken to a close-by hospital, the place police stated he was pronounced useless.

On Tuesday, GCPD introduced that Jayveon’s 23-year-old mom A’zaria Shante Burton, was arrested and faces quite a few costs, together with homicide, first-degree arson, aggravated assault, tampering with proof, possession of a knife throughout the fee of a criminal offense and first-degree cruelty to youngsters. Burton was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail and is being held with out bond.

Whereas GCPD listed Jayveon’s age as 6 in a web based assertion, his father Daquarius Pruitt advised native media that the boy was 5 when he died and was a couple of weeks shy of his sixth birthday.

The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner’s Workplace is conducting an post-mortem and has not decided Jayveon’s official trigger and method of demise as of Tuesday evening.

Newsweek reached out through e mail on Tuesday to the GCPD for remark. It was unclear on the time of publication if Burton had retained an lawyer who might converse on her behalf.

Shortly earlier than 8 a.m. on October 19, the GCPD and the Gwinnett County Fireplace Division had been dispatched to an residence hearth at an residence on Springs Lane in Peachtree Corners, which is a part of the Atlanta metropolitan space.

The 911 name alerting Gwinnett County authorities concerning the scenario got here from a resident on the higher degree of the constructing, GCPD stated in a web based assertion.

When members of the fireplace division arrived on the scene, they heard an “audible” hearth alarm coming from a unit on the primary degree, police stated. After making entry into the residence, firefighters found an “unresponsive boy who appeared to have a number of stab wounds.” The boy was the one individual inside the house whereas it was on hearth, police stated.

GCPD launched a legal investigation and started looking the world. Round 9:15 a.m., officers discovered a lady, later recognized as Burton, behind the residence constructing.

“Her clothes was moist, and she or he was carrying just one sock,” GCPD stated, including that she was taken into custody on the scene.

Detectives labored to find out her involvement and introduced that Burton had been charged on Tuesday. The motive for Jayveon’s slaying and the fireplace continues to be underneath investigation, GCPD stated.

Whereas police consider that Burton stabbed her son to demise earlier than setting their Peachtree Corners residence on hearth, Jayveon’s household advised native media they’re struggling to know what occurred.

The little boy’s dad, Daquarius Pruitt, advised Atlanta station WXIA that Jayveon was supposed to go to him in Mississippi in a couple of weeks to have a good time his sixth birthday. He referred to his son’s demise as “mind-boggling” and a “nightmare,” the station reported.

“He was very energetic,” Pruitt stated of Jayveon. “He simply liked life. He liked taking part in. He liked his mother, he liked his dad, he liked everyone.”

Pruitt advised the station that he was nonetheless attempting to come back to phrases with what occurred to his son, saying that Burton liked the boy and took care of him.

“He was only a nice child,” Pruitt stated. “He by no means was bother or something like that, in order that’s why I am simply attempting to see how all this occurred.”

Chastidy Brown, recognized as Pruitt’s paternal grandmother who additionally lives in Mississippi, advised Atlanta radio station WSB that the little boy liked his dad and mom and “even stated he had the very best mother ever.”

“That is what’s hurting essentially the most is as a result of every thing was so regular,” Brown stated, including that she talked to Pruitt the day earlier than he was killed.