MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — A 9-year-old girl has been charged with assault in connection with last week’s death of a 4-year-old boy in Alabama, the Mobile County District Attorney’s office confirmed.
Mobile police responded to a home around 8:00 a.m. on Feb. 3 for a medical emergency and found the boy unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to court documents, the 9-year-old girl is accused of beating her 4-year-old brother with a broomstick. The documents also said there were unexplained past injuries on the boy that appeared to indicate long-term abuse.
On Feb. 3, Yolanda Coale, 53, the boy’s aunt and caregiver, was arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse, according to police.
Court documents, which said there is a history of abuse at the home, showed that Coale told officers she awoke last Thursday to the sound of the children screaming.
Notes on court documents show the girl was charged with assault, but no one was charged in the child’s death.
“We all have children we are involved with, in our own lives, whether it be a cousin, a grandchild, or our own child. This really is a hard one for Mobile PD because this is such a young life that never really got the chance to see the world,” said Corporal Katrina Frazier with the Mobile Police Department.
An autopsy will determine the child’s cause of death.
Coale’s bond was set at $150,000.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.