This is a very sad situation. Here is some additional information:
Father:
Suspect in daughter's attack was his best manA father whose young daughter was fatally hit
with a baseball bat when two men stormed a prayer group in western Minnesota
said Saturday that one had been the best man at his wedding.
Claude Hankins, whose 14-month-old daughter
Aundrea died at a hospital a few hours after Thursday's attack in Wheaton, said
he had a falling out with Darryl Kennedy after his wedding last month but
thought the bad blood was behind them.
The attack stemmed from a dispute Hankins had
with another man charged in the attack over a washer and dryer.
Hankins said his wife was "a mess"
over the toddler's death and he wanted both men severely punished.
"I haven't really stopped crying about
it," Hankins told The Associated Press. "She was a real vision of purity. Just a child."
Kennedy, 43, and the man accused of wielding
the bat, David Collins, 56, were arrested on charges of second-degree assault
after the incident inside Thy Kingdom Come Church.
The church pastor, Rev. Danny Barnes, said
Collins was upset that he gave a washer and dryer to Hankins instead of to him.
Hankins and Barnes said Kennedy provided the bat.
"It's really shocking that he would give
him the weapon to actually come after me," Hankins said. "I'd had
problems with him in the past but I thought they were over with."
Collins' wife said her husband didn't see the
child standing there, and when he realized what happened he wanted to take his
own life.
"My husband's not a
violent man," she said Saturday.
"He loved that baby."
A phone number listed for a Darryl Kennedy in Wheaton was
disconnected.
Collins and Kennedy remained jailed Saturday and were
scheduled to be in court Tuesday morning, according to the Traverse County
Sheriff's Office. A deputy at the jail said the men didn't have attorneys and
weren't allowed to speak with reporters.
The church in Wheaton, a town of about 1,400 in western
Minnesota, caters in part to people with drug and alcohol addictions. The
people who gathered Thursday were praying for a sick member, Barnes said.
Barnes said he recently provided a washer and dryer to
Hankins, 34, who moved to Wheaton from Pensacola, Fla. about eight months ago.
He said the decision upset Collins.
Collins confronted Hankins on Thursday afternoon and the two
scuffled, leaving Collins with an eye swollen shut, according to both Hankins
and Collins' wife. Witnesses believed the matter was over, Barnes said.
Collins later met Kennedy, who had been removed from the
church several times because of repeated problems with alcohol, Barnes said. He
said both men appeared to be under the influence of alcohol when they arrived
at the church.
"I've known him for eight months and he's never had any
violent tendencies," Barnes said of Collins. "But vodka and foolish
friends cost him his life, possibly, and certainly the life of this baby."
Collins charged into the church swinging the bat and Hankins
picked up a chair to defend himself, Barnes said. The first swing struck
Aundrea in the head, Hankins said.
Kennedy, armed with a two-by-four, arrived moments after the
fight ended, Barnes said.
"The whole thing was 30, 40 seconds," he said.
Traverse County sheriff's deputies said Saturday that
Kennedy was "talked down" and arrested, and Collins later
surrendered.
Aundrea's funeral was scheduled for Wednesday.
nascargirl
Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:56 pm
Calendar