A 6-year-old boy struck multiple times with a baseball bat during a home invasion in September died last Tuesday.
Jeremy Tang-Diaz died in the hospital while fighting to overcome a traumatic brain injury sustained after a neighbor, Daniel Logan, allegedly broke into his family’s home in the 300 block of Rock Mill Loop in Georgetown on September 11.
The 39-year-old suspect allegedly attacked both Jeremy and his mother, Yilin Tang, with a baseball bat in the incident for which the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office has not yet disclosed a motive, according to The Dallas Morning News. Logan had no prior criminal history.
According to an update on the family’s GoFundMe page written by Jeremy’s father, Arturo Diaz, Jeremy suffered “almost 6 hours of hell on earth” as a neural storm hit him on the evening of November 13. Diaz explained that when he checked on him the following morning, the young boy looked unresponsive and then stopped breathing.
“He fought for over 60 days and was improving, but at the end, the odds seemed against him, and he gave up the ghost,” Diaz wrote.
“I was there when he took his first breath and saw him take his last — no parent should see their children buried before them,” the father added.
Jeremy was an avid believer in the Golden Rule, loved jiu-jitsu, and was looked up to by his 3-year-old brother.
Pending the young boy’s autopsy results, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office may present a case to the grand jury and ask that Logan face one count of capital murder, according to a news release from the former.
Logan currently faces charges of injury to a child and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, both of which are felonies in the first degree and punishable by a maximum of 99 years in prison.
While the incident occurred outside Austin, Dallas has seen its fair share of capital murder cases, such as the recent conviction of a parolee who gunned down two healthcare professionals at Methodist Dallas Medical Center last year, as covered by The Dallas Express.
The murder rate in Dallas has increased year over year by 14% so far, with 220 murders and non-negligent homicides logged as of November 17, according to the City’s crime analytics dashboard.
Much like the police force in Austin, the Dallas Police Department has been strained by an ongoing officer shortage. It currently operates with a force of under 3,200 officers despite a City analysis recommending that a city the size of Dallas should have about three officers on staff for every 1,000 residents. This would put an ideal staffing level at around 4,000 officers.