Woman and 2-year-old burned during robbery in Monroe home, police say
Police in Monroe are looking for a suspect after a woman and a two-year-old child were burned during a robbery Tuesday afternoon.
The Monroe Police Department said Wednesday that officers were called to a home on East Talleyrand Avenue around 2:40 p.m. Tuesday and found that a woman had been “robbed and assaulted while entering her home.” Police said she was assaulted and burned.
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According to MPD, the child was also attacked and suffered “second-degree burns to his face and head.” The child was airlifted to a hospital and was reported to be stable, police said.
Monroe police said the suspect was described as “a younger Black male with no facial hair ... wearing a red shirt with stripes and a black head wrap.”
Channel 9′s Erika Jackson asked police on Wednesday how the victims were related.
“My understanding is that the child was in her care, but she’s not the mother of the child victim,” Lt. Morgan Malone with MPD told Jackson.
Malone said the victim was babysitting the child and there were other children inside the home at the time of the attack.
One neighbor told Jackson they heard screaming around the time of the robbery.
“I saw all kinds of firetrucks; police came flying down at the other end of the road to this little house,” the neighbor said. “I heard a child screaming; it still gives me chills, he was just screaming and screaming. I didn’t know what was going on.”
The victim spoke with her son about what happened.
“She tried to put her face up but it got in her hair and her eye, her right eye, I want to say, the baby was right beside her,” said Erick Mendez, the victim’s son.
Mendez said he drove up moments after police said the attacker ran away.
“I see the baby crying, he was crying for help. I called 911 right away,” Mendez said.
According to MPD, the suspect caught the victim by surprise after she went back inside her home, and the suspect demanded cash.
Police said the suspect left on foot after the robbery. Investigators are asking for anyone with information to call 704-282-4700 or 704-283-5600.
“We’re very concerned; it’s heinous,” Malone said. “Our detectives are working to figure out who the suspect is and get him arrested quickly.”
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