Atlanta Man Beats Girlfriend’s 6-Year-Old Son to Death, Causes 'Massive Internal Bleeding': Police

A 6-year-old boy in Atlanta was allegedly beaten to death and authorities say the man believed to be responsible for his death has been apprehended.

Around 11:15 p.m. on March 19, officers responded to reports of an unresponsive child at an Atlanta Fire Department station, according to arrest warrants obtained by WXIA-TV.

First responders took the child, later identified as Tobias Perkins Jr., to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police subsequently arrested 24-year-old Dashon Jones, who family members said was the boyfriend of Tobias’ mother.

Arrest warrants state Jones “hit the child numerous times, causing massive internal bleeding and death.”

Jones was reportedly looking after his girlfriend’s five children for an extended period while she tended to a family issue. Tobias was among the children that Jones was babysitting.

When speaking with investigators, Tobias’ older sister said she heard loud noises coming from inside a bedroom where the defendant and victim were. She said she then saw Jones carrying a “limp Tobias” from the bedroom to a bathroom, and placing him in the bathtub.

The arrest report states the victim’s grandfather found the child in the bathtub and rushed him to the fire station.

Officials said Jones was the only adult in the home when Tobias was injured.

An autopsy was completed on Tobias, which showed severe liver damage and “multiple blunt-force injuries to his head and abdomen,” which would have put Tobias “down within minutes of the injury.”

Jones was arrested and charged with murder and child cruelty, officials said.

He was booked into jail and was being held without bail.

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“There is no taking this back. This hurts. This hurts,” the victim's cousin, Cedric Perkins, told WSB-TV.

He said the family has “so many questions about what happened and how it happened.”