Mom held in slaying faced endangerment charge

Quote :

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/10/BA051CDMAB.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

(03-10) 19:06 PST OAKLAND -- A 19-year-old Oakland woman arrested on suspicion of murder for allegedly suffocating her 2-year-old daughter was charged with child endangerment last month for an incident in San Mateo involving another young daughter and the woman's brother, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Tiffany Lopez, who is three months pregnant, is being held in the slaying Tuesday of Kamilah Russell, a vibrant little girl who relatives said liked the color pink and the cartoon "Dora the Explorer."

Lopez is suspected of suffocating Kamilah in their second-floor apartment on the 2800 block of High Street, where they had moved a few weeks ago from San Mateo.

Family members called 911 at about 4:30 p.m. to report that the girl needed medical help. Kamilah was taken to Children's Hospital Oakland, where she died.

Lopez told police that she had become frustrated with her daughter, said Officer Jason Andersen of the homicide detail. He declined to elaborate.

The mother initially told investigators she had accidentally sat on Kamilah as the two played hide-and-seek, police said.

In February, Lopez was charged in San Mateo County Superior Court with two counts of child endangerment and one count of resisting arrest as a result of an incident in San Mateo on Christmas Eve, said Steve Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney.

The children who were allegedly endangered were Lopez's 11-year-old brother and her then-4-month-old daughter, said Wagstaffe, who declined to elaborate. Lopez posted $50,000 bail in the case and was scheduled to appear in court in April.

The younger daughter, now 7 months old, was placed into protective custody Wednesday, said Joseph Russell Sr., her grandfather.

He said the December incident was primarily an altercation involving Lopez and the 11-year-old brother, which was why the infant girl wasn't removed at the time.

Kamilah, said her grandfather, was "beautiful, intelligent, energetic - a lively baby."

Lopez lived with Kamilah's father, Joseph Russell Jr., 22, who is also the father of the 7-month-old and the unborn child.

He had left the apartment shortly before Kamilah was killed. In a brief interview Wednesday, he called Kamilah's death "a devastating moment in my life."

After the girl died, Russell went to his father's home in Oakland. Ricky Arroyo, 49, who lives next door, said Russell had screamed, and "the pain in that scream, it was not just a regular ... the pain was so profound."

Kamilah "was his love, his life," Arroyo said.

"It's a horrible thing," the elder Russell said. "I didn't think anybody was capable of this. ... I really want to know why my granddaughter won't get to enjoy her life, why this injustice was brought upon my granddaughter. I just want answers."

This was a poorly organized article, it seem to jump a lot... back and forth, and I'm a bit lost as to what the woman has done now. Yet, despite that, I wanted to comment on it.

She has killed her two-years-old daughter... she has endangered her 11-years-old brother... as well as a 4-months-old daughter? That was only a few weeks ago.................. @____________@;; Fuck this article, it doesn't make sense.

Anyways, thought this was fucked up and that some people need to learn how to use fuckin' condoms if they don't want children.