Left: Ralph Taylor Jr. Right: Casandra Taylor (Milwaukee County Jail).
Two parents in Wisconsin are behind bars after the father put a gun to his 4-year-old son”s mouth and pulled the trigger, using a firearm that was bought by the boy’s mother because her husband is a felon, cops say.
Ralph Michael Taylor Jr., 35, stands accused of first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm while Casandra Taylor is facing charges of child neglect and straw purchasing of a firearm.
The ordeal occurred July 10 at a home in the 9100 block of N. 75th Street in Milwaukee. Officers rushed to the scene and were met by several people screaming for help and saying a child had been shot, a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said. Cops ran up to a third-story bedroom where they found the boy unconscious in a pool of blood. Lifesaving efforts proved futile, and paramedics pronounced the boy dead.
Ralph Taylor was in the room with his son, who has not been publicly identified beyond the initials “RT” in the complaint. He initially claimed he was in the bedroom talking on the phone with his son playing on the bed when a bullet entered the window from outside and struck the boy, according to the affidavit. Ralph Taylor also allegedly said there were no guns in the home, but further investigation revealed the father “lied about all of the surrounding circumstances” regarding his son’s death, the affidavit said.
Cops also learned his wife helped cover for him, per the affidavit.
A neighbor told police she was in her home when her kids came running inside saying they heard a gunshot. She checked her Ring camera and saw Casandra Taylor yelling “my son, my son, somebody shot my son through the window!” Casandra Taylor allegedly later approached the neighbor with a purse, but the neighbor declined to take it because she was concerned a gun was inside. Casandra Taylor then reportedly gave the purse to another neighbor, and there was indeed a gun inside of it, although it was not the firearm used in the shooting, cops wrote.
A third neighbor ran to the boy and started administering CPR and allegedly heard Ralph Taylor say, “I got to hide my guns.”
Police say they were able to get to the truth thanks in part to Casandra Taylor’s 12-year-old son. The boy allegedly told detectives his mother owns two guns, and his stepfather kept one of them in the room where his brother died. Ralph Taylor has a “long history of domestic violence” against his mother, the stepson said. The boy also apparently told police that Ralph Taylor “becomes physically and verbally abusive” when he drinks alcohol.
On the morning of the incident, Ralph Taylor accused his stepson of taking the PlayStation 4 video game system, according to the affidavit. During the day, Ralph Taylor allegedly told his wife he “has something for her” and “she will see.” He also allegedly broke her laptop, after which he came into the living room, grabbed the 4-year-old boy by the arm and took him to the bedroom, cops wrote.
A man who had been living in the home said when Ralph Taylor grabbed the boy to take him into the bedroom, he allegedly said “he’s with me. I am not letting him go. He’s my kid.”
Ralph Taylor was in the room with the boy for just a minute or two when his stepson heard a single gunshot, the stepson told cops.
Per the affidavit, an autopsy determined the father put the gun in his son’s mouth and pulled the trigger.
Casandra Taylor knocked on the bedroom door for several minutes but her husband would not let her in, cops wrote. Eventually, he let her in and the family saw the boy laying in the pool of blood, the affidavit said.
Cops found the alleged murder weapon wrapped in two plastic bags in a plastic storage container hidden in a closet the affidavit says. Ralph Taylor apparently admitted it was his gun.
Confronted with the admission of the gun and the fact it was physically impossible for the boy to suffer the wound he did from a shot that came from the outside, Ralph Taylor changed his story, according to the complaint. He then claimed he and his son were on the bed when the boy got a hold of the gun and shot himself. By this point cops knew he was “completely lying,” the affidavit said.
The 4-year-old, the affidavit notes, “has moderate to severe autism” and “often communicates through song.”
After receiving her Miranda warnings, Casandra Taylor allegedly told detectives she owns two guns, including one that her husband took and “would not give back.” But she then admitted detectives would find text messages of her husband sending her photos of guns he wanted her to buy since he was a convicted felon, the affidavit said. She allegedly claimed the more than 200 rounds of ammunition recovered in the home were all hers.
She knows her husband is a convicted felon, she told detectives.
“I know I am going to get into trouble for that,” she allegedly said.
She also admitted to cops that she would not let a babysitter who was drinking and had a firearm to watch her son, yet she allowed her husband to do so.
Casandra Taylor is in the Milwaukee County Jail on a $5,000 bond. Her next court date is slated for July 24. Ralph Taylor is in jail on a $500,000 bond.
