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'The baby's dead! Oh my God!' Witness describes scrambling for cover in shooting that left toddler dead

Two people are dead - a 27-year-old man and a 23-month-old child - after a shooting in a North Raleigh apartment complex.

Posted Updated

By
Lora Lavigne
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Two people are dead – a 27-year-old man and a 23-month-old child – after a shooting in a north Raleigh apartment complex.

Natanael Ezequiel Baez, 22, was charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. The child who was killed, whom neighbors know as Bubby, was his son.

Police allege that Baez shot Bubby, as well as a man named Robert Thomas and the child's aunt, Tiffany Claybrooke.

According to neighbors, Baez started shooting after a fight broke out between himself and Thomas.

A neighbor told WRAL News that her young daughter was holding the baby boy when he was hit by a bullet and went limp.

Police called to shooting at north Raleigh apartment complex

Scrambling for cover as bullets fly

The neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous, told WRAL News her children were inside a third-floor apartment when gunfire erupted.

"I ran outside and said, 'call 911,'" she says.

According to this witness, Thomas and Baez were fighting, and Claybrooke was shot in the arm when trying to break them up.

Natanael Ezequiel Baez, 22, was charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He was being held at the Wake County Detention Center.

As gunshots flew, people in the vicinity began scrambling for the witness' bathroom for cover. However, moments later – more tragedy.

"The baby was trying to get to his dad," she says.

She says her daughter rushed to pick up Bubby, but as she was carrying him to the bathroom she heard a shot, and the baby went limp in her arms.

WRAL News spoke with a woman who identified herself as the toddler's mother, and she says the shooting of her baby was an accident.

Man killed, woman injured

Claybrooke was injured and will need surgery after being shot in the arm. Thomas died at the hospital.

“He played football for Enloe High School, he was quiet," a friend said of Thomas. "There was no reason for him to be involved in something like this."

"[He was] just a quiet soul, finding his voice through music," the friend said. "He was an artist. He didn't deserve this."

Baez is being held at the Wake County Detention Center and is expected to appear in court on Friday morning at 9 a.m.

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