A man in Bailey’s Crossroads has been charged with murder for the death of his infant daughter.
Fairfax County police officers were dispatched to an apartment in the 3400 block of Lake Street around 7:32 p.m. last Friday (March 27) after receiving a report of an infant “not breathing,” according to the police scanner.
Officers and then Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel attempted CPR, but the 3-month-old girl was ultimately pronounced deceased after being taken to a local hospital, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
“At the time of the incident, the infant was in the care of her father, Misael Lopez Gomez, 28, of Bailey’s Crossroads,” the FCPD said in a press release. “During the investigation, detectives and hospital staff observed evidence consistent with abuse.”
According to police, an autopsy by the local Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined preliminarily that the infant died from “blunt force trauma.”
Arrested yesterday (Tuesday), Lopez Gomez has been charged with second-degree murder and child abuse — a Class 4 felony in Virginia that could result in a sentence of two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Second-degree murder, a Class 2 felony, has a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison for a conviction.
Lopez Gomez is currently in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center with an arraignment scheduled for 9 a.m. today (Wednesday). He will appear before the county’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court for a preliminary hearing in the case on May 1 at 1:30 p.m., according to online court records.
Apartment screenshot via Google Maps
