Baby dies; Dad charged with murder

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - A 22-year-old father wept through his arraignment Thursday afternoon on charges he shook his 13-day-old baby to death.

The family of Glenn Ross Sr. was in the courtroom as he appeared on a video hookup to hear the official charges against him.

The baby, Glenn Ross Jr., was injured Tuesday and died in a hospital Wednesday, a day after someone called 911 to report a medical emergency at the baby's home in the 800 block of Burrell Avenue.

His father is charged with murder and with causing the baby's death while committing felony child abuse.

Ross, his family said, suffers from mental and emotional problem -- bipolar disorder and ADHD -- and couldn't cope with caring for the baby alone.

"He has always been in special ed," Glen Ross's aunt Eugenia Jensen said outside the courtroom. "The system has failed this kid so poorly. "I've taken him to the ER four or five times when he tried to kill himself and they sent him home."

Ross and the baby's mother were staying with his parents on the north side of Kalamazoo, but were all at appointments elsewhere when the alleged shaking happened.

Roger Ross, the infant's grandfather and suspect's father, was grieving for both.

"I come home and my son said he made a mistake. That he...he threw the baby down on the couch."

The baby's mother came home a few minutes later.

"She sucked the baby's nose and got blood," said Roger Ross. "I thought, 'Oh my God.'"

He said Glenn later admitted to police he shook the baby.

While they're operating under the suspicion that the suspect shook the child, police said they will not know an official cause of death until an autopsy is completed.

At one point during his arraignment, Glenn Ross Sr., while weeping, told the judge he just wanted to go home to his parents.

"I just want to go home, please," he said.

Instead, the judge set his bond at $100,000. Ross remains in jail, and his next court date is March 7.

24 Hour News 8's Leon Hendrix contributed to this report.