7-Month-Old Boy's Death Ruled Baltimore's 1st Homicide Of 2013; Father Arrested
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A heartbreaking crime to begin the new year. Baltimore's first homicide of 2013 was the death of a 7-month-old baby. Now police have made an arrest.
Kai Jackson explains who's being charged with the murder.
Baltimore police say the crime happened on New Year's Eve in the 5600-block of Sagra Road in Northeast Baltimore. They say 7-month-old Kendall Browne was beaten into a coma.
WJZ spoke with a woman who knows the baby's mother.
"Never seen or thought of any problems. I was kinda surprised when I got the call from her Friday to tell me what had happened," said Kim Chambers.
After several days on life support, the baby died.
Monday night, police charged the baby's father, 29-year-old Francois Browne, with the crime.
"So this afternoon, homicide detectives filed charges for first-degree murder for Mr. Browne. He is literally upstairs now on the fifth floor being debriefed by those detectives," said Anthony Guglielmi, Baltimore City Police.
When WJZ knocked, no one answered the door of the home police list as the place where the crime happened. Police say the house is the home of a relative but they declined to give the relationship between that relative and the baby.
Neighbors who have lived on the street for decades says they don't know Francoise Browne but they are shocked to hear the crime he's accused of committing.
"This is kind of disheartening," said one neighbor. "I have children and grandchildren and it's hard."
Detectives say at this time, they believe only the father is responsible for what happened.
