Dad charged with capital murder in death of two, including 23-month-old son (Wichita Falls, Texas)

Dad BENJAMIN JEROME PRINCE has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of his 23-month-old son and a 20-year-old man (the relationship to the father is not made clear). The mother of the child was also injured with a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Dad has been charged with aggravated assault for the gunshot wound. The local police SWAT team was also involved in the incident.

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2009/sep/01/dad-is-accused-in-death-of-child/

Dad is accused in death of child
By Jessica Langdon (Contact)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Benjamin Prince is accused in the deaths of two.

The mother of a little boy who wasn’t quite 2 when severe head injuries claimed his life Sunday told police she saw the child’s father strike him several times in the head with a handgun and a claw hammer, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Nicole Grant, 25, had a gunshot wound to her shoulder and was holding the toddler — identified by police as 23-month-old Trebian Prince — when members of the SWAT Team entered No. 2 Rene Circle on Sunday morning.

Benjamin Jerome Prince, 28, was in the Wichita County Jail on Monday on $3 million bond, charged with capital murder in the deaths of Trebian Prince and 20-year-old John Prince, and with aggravated assault in connection with Grant’s wound, the court documents show. Police found John Prince lying on the living room floor, with what looked like gunshot wounds to his head.

Two children who were also inside the house when violence erupted early Sunday morning weren’t hurt. Police found the 9-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl hiding in a bedroom closet. The children were interviewed, and they told investigators they saw the man with a gun, and they saw him hit the toddler in the head several times, a detective wrote.

Police first learned of trouble in the area when calls started coming in at 6:29 a.m. Sunday. They were first called to Pearlie Drive and Kevin Circle in the northern Wichita Falls neighborhood to investigate reports of gunshots and a woman screaming. When they arrived, the light-colored brick house on Rene Circle became their focus. According to the affidavits:

Officers arrived and saw a man, dressed in khaki shorts, run into No. 2 Rene Circle. They heard a woman’s screams coming from inside the house, and they saw the man step out the back door with what looked like a gun. The man went back inside, and police set up a perimeter around the scene.

Soon after members of the SWAT Team arrived, they forced their way into the home. When they got inside, Grant was near the back door, the child in her arms.

Officers found the older children unharmed, and discovered John Prince on the floor. They also found Benjamin Prince, covered in blood, within a few feet of Grant and John Prince.
Police detained him.

Neighbors described hearing a woman’s voice screaming Sunday morning that her baby was hurt, and one saw a police officer running down Pearlie Drive, carrying Trebian, and laying him on a grassy lawn. Emergency workers tried to revive the little boy, and ambulances rushed him, John Prince and Grant to the emergency room at United Regional. Trebian Prince was pronounced dead at the hospital at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, and John Prince was pronounced dead at 8:57 a.m.

Police talked with Grant, who told them she and both men lived at No. 2 Rene Circle, and she and Benjamin Prince had a son, Trebian, together. She said she and Benjamin Prince got into an argument early Sunday, and that is when he shot her and John Prince, according to the account in the affidavit.