2-year-old boy’s death ruled a homicide, police say
Police were called Tuesday to a residential street in Oxford Circle, and the child was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.
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The death of a 2-year-old boy this week in the city’s Oxford Circle section has been ruled a homicide, authorities said Thursday.
Police were called Tuesday to the 5900 block of Shisler Street for a report of an unresponsive child. The boy, who was found by his step-father in a bedroom, was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., police said.
Authorities on Friday identified the child as Jasah Hicks.
The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the boy’s death a homicide caused by blunt impact injuries to the torso.
The case was transferred from the Special Victims Unit to Homicide.
Police said there were no arrests or suspects.
No other details were made available.
This has been an especially violent stretch involving children in Philadelphia.
Five children were killed by gunfire in a four-week period and another two were shot and critically wounded.
Earlier this week, prosecutors announced charges against a father accused of using his 11-month-old son as a “human shield” while trying to buy drugs in Hunting Park last month, and the guardian of a 4-year-old girl was charged with murder after allegedly abusing the child and then falsely telling police the girl had fallen from a window.