Antonio Santiago murder

The Antonio Santiago murder refers to the death of Antonio Santiago, a 13-month-old baby, who was fatally shot in Brunswick, Ga. allegedly by two teens on March 21, 2013 during an armed robbery. The Santiago's mother was, Sherry West was also shot during the alleged robbery.

Shooting
Sherry West claims that she was walking near her home in the coastal city of Brunswick, about 80 miles south of Savannah, in the morning and pushing her 1 year old child in a stroller when two black male kids approached her and demanded money.

In her account of the incident, she claims that the gunman “asked me for money and I said I didn't have it, when you have a baby, you spend all your money on babies. They're expensive. And he kept asking and I just said ‘I don't have it.’ And he said, ‘Do you want me to kill your baby?’ And I said, ‘No, don't kill my baby!’”

West claims the teen fired four shots, the first into the ground. She says didn't see a shell casing ejected, and assumed the gun wasn't real. The suspect then allegedly fired at her head with the bullet grazing her left ear - she has a small scab and bruising there when she spoke with the media. The suspect fired again and shot her in the left leg above the knee. West claims that she didn't know she was hurt.

"The boy proceeded to go around to the stroller and he shot my baby in the face," she went on to claim. "And then he just shoved me when I started screaming and he ran down London Street with the little boy."

West sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound in the leg and was transported to the Southeast Georgia Health System for treatment and Santiago was found dead at the scene.

Police said no weapon has been found and that investigators were checking school attendance records for leads.

According to local news, the Brunswick Police began searching for two black male suspects. The alleged gunman is approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall, slender build, with curly hair, possibly between the ages of 13 and 15 years old, wearing a red shirt. His alleged accomplice is short in stature, possibly between the ages of 10 and 12 years old, wearing a black shirt. There was a $10,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest.

Officers from a SWAT team checked vacant houses as investigators tried to find possible witnesses. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources provided a helicopter to aid the search. Police combed school records and canvassed neighborhoods searching for the suspects. While police said the two suspects were between the ages of 10 and 15, the West stated she believed the younger boy was as young as 5 years old.

Arrest
On Friday March 22, 2013, the day after the alleged attempted robbery and murder, a pair of teenagers was arrested and accused of the crime.

Seventeen-year-old De'Marquis Elkins ws charged as an adult with first-degree murder, along with 14-year-old Dominique Lang. It wasn't immediately clear whether the boys had attorneys. At the time of the arrest the weapon had not been found.

Police announced the arrest Friday afternoon after combing school records and canvassing neighborhoods searching for the pair. The chief said the motive of the "horrendous act" was still under investigation and the weapon had not been found.

West said that during her interview with police, detectives showed her photographs of about 24 young men. She pointed to one, saying he looked like the gunman.

"After I picked him, they said they had him in custody," West said. "It looked just like him. So I think we got our man."

West said she thought the other suspect looked much younger: "That little boy did not look 14."

Sabrina Elkins, the sister of the older suspect De'Marquis, said Friday evening after the arrest that she believed her brother was innocent of the charges. She didn't know whether he had a lawyer. According to her, De'Marquis had been living in Atlanta, and only returned to Brunswick a few months ago. Typically, he would come by her house in the morning and they'd go to breakfast. But on the morning of March 22, police came to her door instead.

Her brother was walking down the sidewalk and saw the officers at her door but came over anyway. The police then pointed a taser gun at him, commanding him to get on the ground. De'Marquis complied asking “What are you getting me for? Can you tell me what I did?.”

Both teens made their first court appearances on Monday following the arrest the previous Friday.

Arrest of De'Marquise Elkins mother & aunt, recovery of a gun
Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering said investigators located a hand gun Tuesday after arresting 36-year-old Karimah Elkins, the mother of De'Marquise Elkins, and 33-year-old Katrina Elkins, his aunt, for making false statements to police. Doering said that after their arrest, the women made additional statements which led investigators to witnesses and eventually to a gun, which was found in a small pond.

Police are still trying to determine if the weapon is connected to the shooting.

Both women have reportedly posted $1,104 bail, but only De'Marquise's mother was released because Katrina is being held on a probation violation charge. Katrina Elkins told reporters Saturday that her nephew couldn't have killed the child because he was at her house having breakfast, according to the.

Gunshot residue found on both parents
The two parents had gunshot residue on them the day their son was killed, according to the state's forensic report obtained by CBS affiliate WTEV. While the fact that Sherry West, the baby's mother, was also shot during her son's killing could explain why residue was found on her, it is unclear how or why the baby's father, Louis Santiago, would have been exposed to gunshot residue. A conclusion from the state forensic report says, "This supports the possibility that [Louis Santiago] discharged a firearm, was in close proximity to a firearm upon discharge, or came into contact with an item whose surface bears GSR [gunshot residue]." According to the station, Louis Santiago is currently in jail on charges of aggravated stalking. An arrest warrant from June 6 reportedly says Santiago was stalking Sherry West, in violation of police orders. He was reportedly convicted of the same charges in another case from 2009. West claims Santiago "went nuts" in the months following their son's murder and violated a restraining order, according to the station. "He was throwing things through the window and terrorizing me, saying that I killed my baby and it should have been me," West told the station. West has always maintained that she was walking her baby by herself when two teens, De'Marquise Elkins and Dominique Lang, tried to rob her at gunpoint on a Brunswick sidewalk. The teens allegedly shot her in the leg and baby Antonio in the head. Both are behind bars on charges of murder and are scheduled to stand trial next month. According to the station, West says it is plausible that she would have gunshot residue on her because she was, in fact, shot. She also says it may be possible that the baby's father came into contact with the residue when he saw her at the hospital. Police have not named Sherry West or Louis Santiago suspects in their son's murder.

Zimmerman's brother compares Trayvon Martin to De'Marquise Elkins
On March 24, Robert Zimmerman, Jr., brother of George Zimmerman who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Feb. 2012, tweeted an image of Martin alongside one of De'Marquise Elkins. Robert Zimmerman sent the tweet multiple times. It featured side-by-side photographs and the words "A picture speaks a thousand words. Any questions?" Zimmerman addressed the tweet specifically to the NAACP, filmmaker Michael Moore, the National Rifle Association, and Anthony Cumia of the Opie and Anthony show, among others.

In one of many subsequent tweets, Zimmerman stated: "1 of those pics is a person who may have murdered @ point-blank range, the other: a person who gave every indication they prob would've."

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