Cops: Dad Kills His Baby While Trying to Shoot Wife

St. Louis man forced family into car at gunpoint
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 25, 2016 12:37 AM CDT
Cops: Dad on the Run After Killing 8-Month-Old
Diata Crockett is seen in this photo released by St. Louis police.   (St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

A manhunt is underway for a St. Louis man who fired a shot at his fleeing wife and killed the 8-month-old son she had in her arms, police say. St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson says that during a domestic dispute Tuesday afternoon, Diata Crockett forced his wife and three of their six children into his car, CNN reports. He allegedly fired after the wife jumped out of the vehicle. She ran with the baby until a passing motorist took them to a hospital, where 8-month-old Reign Crockett was pronounced dead. On the way there, the driver told 911 dispatchers that somebody was trying to run them off the road.

"I really have to question the humanity of this individual," Dotson told reporters. Police say that later in the afternoon, the two children who remained in the car, Blaze Crockett, 3, and Ryker Crockett, 2, were dropped off at the home of a relative, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The rented car Crockett had been driving was found Tuesday evening outside an apartment building in Ferguson. The 34-year-old fugitive, who has an extensive criminal history, should be considered armed and dangerous, police say. He was last seen wearing a lime-green shirt and green pants. (More Missouri stories.)

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