Crime & Safety
Update: Man Tells Police 'I Just Killed My Nephew'
A man has been charged with attempted murder after assaulting his three-year-old nephew while watching him at Lincoln Village.
WORCESTER, MA—A man is facing charges that he attempted to murder his three-year-old nephew after an assault while he was taking care of the child.
On Thursday, Sept. 29, around 3:21 p.m., Worcester police responded to a Lincoln Village apartment after dispatch received a call during which a man stated that he had just killed his three-year-old nephew.
A Worcester Police officer working a private detail for the complex immediately responded, along with several other detectives.
Officers met with Taj McDonald, the 21-year-old uncle to the boy, who allowed the officers inside the apartment and found the three-year-old boy on a couch. The boy was conscious and alert.
Officers cuffed McDonald and checked the apartment to make sure no one else was in need of medical help. Worcester EMS arrived and treated the boy at the scene, and then he was transported to the hospital in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries. The boy had trauma to the face and neck area, said police.
McDonald was transported to police headquarters, where he told detectives he had been in charge of the boy while the boy's father was at work. He had assaulted the boy several times, said police.
Detectives contacted the Department of Children and Families, which is working with investigators.
McDonald was charged with 2 Counts of Attempted Murder, Reckless Endangerment of a Child, Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under 14, Assault and Battery on a Family or Household Member, Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon and Strangulation.
McDonald will be arraigned at the Worcester County District Courthouse on Friday, Sept. 30.
Original post, Sept. 29: Police are investigating an incident in which a child was hurt in Worcester on Thursday afternoon, according to several media reports.
A child was injured on Country Club Boulevard around 3:30 p.m., reports Fox 25 and WCVB-TV, which said that a young boy was taken to the hospital, and that a teen is being questioned relating to the incident.
