The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has charged a suspect with aggravated child abuse in connection with the death of a 3-year-old toddler who was found unresponsive on Tuesday, marking at least the fourth homicide to occur in the county in the past 50 days.
Deputies from MCSO responded to reports of an unresponsive female child in the 16500 block of NE 44th Avenue in Citra on Thursday, Feb. 19, at around 12 p.m.
Upon arrival, the child was transported by local medics from Marion County Fire Rescue to a local hospital, where she ultimately succumbed to her injuries and died.
In a social media post by her mother, the child was identified as “Paisley.”
Once at the scene of the incident, MCSO deputies were informed that a man at the property had allegedly harmed the child. That man has since been identified as 32-year-old Jeroen Jerrel Coombs of Citra.
Coombs was taken into custody for questioning, according to MCSO. Marion County Jail records show that Coombs was booked into the jail at 9:36 p.m. He is currently being charged with cruelty towards a child/aggravated abuse of a child.
Major Crimes detectives are investigating this incident as a homicide and authorities say they will release more information as it becomes available.
The death of another toddler comes less than ten days after a different toddler was struck by a vehicle and killed while playing in a local driveway.
The homicide is one of at least four that have occurred in Marion County this year.
Last week, a mother and her daughter were killed by an estranged husband in the Marion Springs Condominiums.
On Jan. 7, 64-year-old Harold Whitt Harper was shot and killed while he was gardening in his front yard in Ocala. The suspect, 29-year-old Isaac Ezekiel Toye, was arrested in that case and is currently in custody.
Just two weeks before that incident, a 21-year-old Ocala father was shot and killed on Christmas morning.