Deonta Jermaine Johnson and Shatia Tiara Welch’s was arrested Monday in LaPorte on neglect and drug charges stemming from the March 28 killing of the couple’s 1-year-old son, according to Lafayette police and prosecutors.
Police arrived at Welch’s apartment in the 500 block of Westchester Lane in Romney Meadows on the city’s southwest side shortly after 3 p.m. March 28 with a report of a toddler killed by a gunshot. The only people in the apartment were the 1-year-old victim, his 5-year-old brother, and Johnson, according to prosecutors, who charged the couple last week with neglect resulting in death, neglect resulting in bodily injury and neglect of a dependent.
The couple also face drug dealing and possession charges.
The 1-year-old boy died from a gunshot wound to his head, and he also had marijuana in his blood, according to prosecutors.
The victim’s 5-year-old brother tested positive for cocaine, according to prosecutors.
The charges were unsealed Tuesday after Johnson and Welch’s arrests.
Johnson, 27, and Welch, 24, both of the 500 block of Westchester Lane, Lafayette, were booked into the Tippecanoe County Jail on Tuesday afternoon, according to online jail records.
As police sorted out what happened March 28, Johnson changed his version of the events several times while being interviewed by officers, according to prosecutors.
“Johnson then claimed he woke up on the couch, saw (Welch’s 5-year-old son) on the couch, heard a boom, took the marijuana to the car, went to Victim 1’s bedroom and found Victim 1 dead and called Welch,” according to prosecutor’s probable cause affidavit.
After the boy’s death, police searched the apartment and found 93 pills of fentanyl, marijuana and paraphernalia, according to prosecutors. They found marijuana in Johnson’s car and found a grinder with marijuana residue inside it, according to prosecutors.
Welch told police she owns the gun, but it typically is kept locked in a box under her bed, according to her statements to police. She had the gun out of the box the weekend before the shooting, and she could not remember if she locked the safe when she put it away, according to prosecutors.
Police found the gun on top of a dresser in Johnson and Welch’s bedroom, according to prosecutors.
Johnson also faces a charge of obstruction of justice for removing marijuana from the apartment before police arrived, according to prosecutors.
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