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Wickliffe Police Chief Randy Ice said at a Monday news conference that the beating death of a 2-month-old girl is one of the most egregious crimes he's seen in his 30 years as a police officer.

(Ryllie Danylko, NEOMG)

Zuri Whitehead

WICKLIFFE, Ohio -- An 11-year-old Wickliffe girl is charged with murder after police said she beat to death a 2-month-old child the girl's mother was babysitting.

Police said the girl, a Wickliffe Middle School student, showed no remorse after she violently beat baby Zuri Whitehead early Friday while the girl's mother was asleep downstairs.

The girl was formally charged at a Monday juvenile court hearing and she remains in custody at the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center. Police don't plan on charging her mother, Wickliffe Police Chief Randy Ice said at a 1:30 p.m. Monday news conference.

The chief gave the following account of the incident:

A 39-year-old Wickliffe woman offered to babysit the baby of her friend - a Cleveland resident - to give her a break for the night.

The babysitter, her 11-year-old daughter and the baby were on a couch in the basement of her home on the 1500 block of Ridgewick Drive when the babysitter fell asleep about 3 a.m.

Some time in the next hour, the girl took Zuri upstairs and repeatedly struck her head and upper body. She went back to the basement with the bleeding child in her arms and awoke her mother.

She told her mother something was wrong with the baby, and her mother immediately called 911.

911 call

Paramedics stabilized Zuri before taking her to Lake West Medical Center. She was transported by helicopter to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital where she died while doctors were treating her for massive brain injuries and internal bleeding. The baby's spleen, liver and kidney were also severely injured.

The Lake County Crime Laboratory collected evidence from the home to give police more details on the beating.

Wickliffe police have investigated the 11-year-old girl two times prior to this incident, according to Ice. The previous reports came from Wickliffe Middle School, and were not violent in nature.

The girl does not suffer from any mental problems, Ice said. She's being evaluated by mental health professionals at the detention center.

The police chief said he's not sure whether the girl fully understands what happened.

"She knew that something was wrong, but I don't think she appreciates the gravity of what just occurred," Ice said.

The incident was traumatic for the responding officers. Ice plans to bring in Critical Incident Stress Management counselors to offer them support.

"I've been a policeman for 30 years and I've never come across something like this," Ice said. "We're trying to figure out what could possibly motivate someone to do something like this."

Donations are being taken at Dollar Bank branches to offset the costs of Zuri's funeral.