Cumberland County father charged with assault

Jaylen Jo'el "Jay" McClain, 6, was back with his mother Monday night, about an hour after the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office issued an Amber Alert for him.

Posted 12:20 a.m. Jul 28, 2015 — Updated 9:28 p.m. Jul 28, 2015

PARKTON, N.C. — A Cumberland County Amber Alert that began with an altercation between the child's parents Monday night ended with the child safe and charges against the father.

Tesssa Mceachern, 25, of Knollwood Drive, called authorities after Derrick Jamaal McClain, her ex-boyfriend and father of her 6-year-old child, broke her car window with a gunshot and grabbed her, the sheriff's office said.

Mceachern then realized that McClain had picked up their son, Jaylen Jo'el "Jay" McClain, up from day care and raised the alarm.

Mceachern told deputies that McClain had been threatening to harm himself and she worried for her son.

Shortly after the Amber Alert was issued, McClain's father, the grandfather of the child, called the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office to report that the boy was with him and would be returned to his mother.

Although Derrick McClain was not charged with kidnapping his son, but he faces a charge of assault on a female for his alleged attack on Mceachern.

Anyone with information on McClain's wherabouts is asked to call the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at 910-323-1500.

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