Father Guns Down His 3-Month-Old Baby in Murder-Suicide: Sheriff

A South Carolina father fatally shot his infant daughter before turning the gun on himself during a supervised visit with the baby, according to local authorities.

The father was identified as 21-year-old Iziah Akeem Murray, of Piedmont, South Carolina, and the daughter was identified as 3-month-old Zaila Godis Murray of Belton, according to an online statement by Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore on Friday.

The coroner’s office confirmed the father and daughter had both died from injuries sustained in the Thursday evening double shooting.

Newsweek reached out via email and Facebook on Saturday to the ACSO for comment and update on the case.

The suspected murder-suicide happened shortly after 4 p.m. on Thursday outside a residence on Cherokee Road in Belton, according to the coroner’s office.

ACSO along with the Belton Fire Department, Anderson County EMS, Medshore EMS and Belton Police Department responded to the 911 call around 4:15 p.m. When first responders arrived on the scene, they found the father and baby suffering from gunshot wounds in the road, and both were pronounced deceased shortly after, Shore said in the statement.

The preliminary investigation indicates the father was at the Belton residence visiting his infant daughter under supervised visitation, the coroner said.

“Upon the visitation ending, the father produced a handgun and shot his daughter and then himself,” Shore said. The case has been ruled a homicide-suicide.”

A motive for the deadly shooting had not been determined at the time of publication.

“Normally, the mother brings the baby out, and he sits in the car with his family and spends time with the baby,” Shore said during a press conference. “This afternoon, when he arrived, he got out of the car, and we don’t know exactly what transpired, but he pulled a gun out and shot the 3-month-old baby and then turned the gun on himself.”

Shore said that Murray pointed the gun at the baby’s mother, who witnessed the deadly shooting.

“After he shot the baby, turned the gun on her, didn’t fire but turned the gun on himself, so that’s a miracle that we didn’t have three victims,” the coroner said.

He said the baby’s mother, who has not been identified, is “very shaken up.” “

“The whole family is very upset, all the first responders, I mean, it hit us pretty hard,” Shore said. “This is really tough to work a case like this, but it’s just a sad day in Anderson County. He had a family member in the car. I believe it was his mother. She’s OK, but she was a witness to this tragedy. It’s a terrible tragedy and we’re all hurt over it.”

The investigation into the double shooting is ongoing by the Anderson County Office of the Coroner and the ACSO.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. The Lifeline, according to its website, is comprised of a national network of more than 200 local crisis centers. The 988 Lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988 or on its website.

The National Alliance on Mental Health, a nonprofit organization that aims to support people diagnosed with mental illness, can be reached at 1-800-950-8264.