Father wanted in shooting death of infant son surrenders
ST. LOUIS -- The man wanted in connection with the shooting death of his eight-month-old son has surrendered.
Police say 34-year-old Diata Crockett turned himself in to his lawyer Wednesday morning and is now in custody. No other details about the surrender was offered.
Scott Rosenblum, the attorney who arranged Crockett's surrender at the request of his family, says his client was "obviously devastated" about his son's death, according to The Associated Press.
Rosenblum said "there's a lot more to the story than what's been reported."
Neighbors told police that Crockett and his wife, whose name was not released, were involved in a domestic dispute Tuesday at their home in Bellefontaine Neighbors. They said he forced the woman and three of their six children into the car at gunpoint.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said the woman tried to get out of the car with the baby, Reign, in her arms as it slowed near an Interstate 270 exit ramp. Police believe Crockett shot at his wife but instead hit the infant.
She flagged down a passing motorist who drove her and the baby to a hospital with Crockett in pursuit. In an 11-minute 911 call, the unidentified Good Samaritan and the boy's mother can be heard saying: "He's trying to run us off the road. He's trying to cause an accident. He's following us," Dotson said.
Crockett then allegedly fled with the other two children in the car, 2 and 3, but they were found safe at a home later Tuesday.
By Tuesday evening, the rented car Crockett had been driving was found in Ferguson, in the same Canfield Green apartment complex where 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2014, according to The Associated Press.
Crockett's mother, Casetta Crockett, later spoke to CBS affiliate KMOV, asking that he stop running for the sake of his two other children.
"You need to turn yourself in," she pleaded. "We know you love your kids and you would never hurt them, so we know this was a horrible accident. You have to come in, if nothing else, you have to come in for your other kids."
Dotson told reporters that Crockett had threatened suicide and violence against his family in the past.
Crockett has previously been convicted for burglary, assault, drug-related charges, resisting arrest and forgery, online court records show.
The Missouri Department of Corrections said he was imprisoned in June 2011 and given parole in December 2011. He violated that parole and has had a warrant for his arrest since January 2013, according to Corrections Department records.