Inset: Nathan Travis-Nunnally (Hopewell Police Department). Background: Hopewell Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Hopewell, Virginia (WTVR/YouTube).
A man in Virginia is accused of causing the death of his baby boy by shaking him because he “just wanted him to be quiet.”
Nathan Travis-Nunnally, 22, is charged with felony homicide, child abuse and aggravated malicious wounding, according to the Hopewell Police Department.
During his preliminary hearing on Thursday, Oct. 15, prosecutors played a recorded cellphone conversation featuring the defendant admitting to shaking his child, regional CBS affiliate WTVR reported.
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On June 14, at about 10:40 a.m., authorities got a call about an unresponsive child on the 4900 block of Oaklawn Boulevard in Hopewell, a city about 20 miles south of Richmond.
The Hopewell Police Department and the Hopewell Fire Department responded and found a 5-month-old boy unresponsive. The first responders cared for the child and brought him to an area hospital “for a life-threatening injury.”
Five days later, the child died.
Officers arrested Travis-Nunnally and booked him into the Riverside Regional Jail.
“I just wanted him to be quiet,” the defendant reportedly said in the call played in court, which was between Travis-Nunnally and the child’s uncle. “I started screaming at him. I picked him up and then I shook him.”
Travis-Nunnally also allegedly said he “told him to shut the f— up” because the boy was being irritable. He said the baby suddenly went limp and that’s when he called for help, according to authorities.
The child’s mother told WTVR that she was serving a weekend sentence in jail when her son was injured. She said she and the defendant had been engaged but had broken up.
The judge in the case sent the charges to a grand jury, which is expected to consider the case in December, according to the local TV station.
The post Father admitted to shaking his 5-month-old son before his death because he ‘just wanted him to be quiet’: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
