12 year old boy beats toddler to death with bat

Why was a 12 yr. old babysitting a 1 yr old and a 10 yr old anyway? I don’t know any 12 yr. olds I would trust to watch my baby.

This is simply tragic. Poor parental judgement is the root of this horrendous attack. The 12 yr old should of NEVER been left alone much less caring for another child, much less a 17 month old. I can empathize that child care is expensive and understand that when there is not enough money the slow laxation of judgement to do the lesser evil however incidents like these happen to “shake the hell out of the public”. In NC, it is legal to leave children home alone as long as there is one child that is 12 yrs of age. I believe this case proves that these laws across the US MUST change.

Not only are the parents of these children to blame but also our society that does not make afterschool and childcare readily available for all socioeconomic levels of life. On the other hand, when I was a single mother putting myself through the nursing program, I pounded the pavement,researched, asked questions (LOTS) and MADE it work. My child did NOT get left at home alone or with irresponsible caregivers ever.

It truly does take a village to raise a child and nuture the evolvement of an honorable adult.

It is so sad that there are so many parents who are irresponsible as to leave their children to mind the smaller children. Kids just want to have fun playing video games and watch TV. Not act as an adult watching a bunch of kids and especially a baby. He was probably already a rotten big brother to his siblings and his bad behavior was never taken seriously. If this same parent was looking for a babysitter and put an ad in the paper, I’m sure they wouldn’t be asking for an immature 12 year old boy to come watch their kid, so why leave your baby with one?

His age is completely irrelevant. A 12 y/o of normal intelligence is quite capable of babysitting a 17 m/o without any major issues, let alone beating her to death. I babysat from the time I was 10 or 11 until I had graduated high school and I never had even the remotest desire to strike a child with a baseball bat.