A Shreveport woman accused of shaking an 18-month-old baby to death will serve a mandatory life sentence after she was found guilty of second-degree murder. Per The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate, the convicted woman, identified as Tatianna Burns, fatally shook the young victim Angel Wong in June 2020.
Wong had been placed in Burns’ care when she killed her. Four medical doctors who were summoned by the state all said that the baby suffering fatal bleeding and swelling had stemmed from acute abusive head trauma.
Wong was initially admitted to the hospital in the wake of the incident. Police documents stated that Burns also spoke with investigators and admitted to shaking the 18-month-old baby for almost one hour. The convicted woman said she was attempting to make the infant regain consciousness after she became unconscious.
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“Burns stated that she then began to forcibly shake Wong for about 45 minutes to an hour trying to get her to wake up,” a Shreveport Police Department detective wrote in an application for a warrant for Burns’ arrest.
“Burns demonstrated how she shook Wong by doing hand motions that indicated that she was upside-down, sideways, vertical and back-and-forth. Burns even admitted to holding Wong upside down by her legs while shaking her.”
The detective added: “Burns also demonstrated that she held the face and behind the head of Wong while shaking her back and forth. Burns advised that while she was on her way to the hospital with Wong, she was stopping at red lights and shaking her again, but she would not respond.”
Per Cleveland Clinic, shaken baby syndrome is a “type of brain injury that occurs when a baby or toddler is shaken violently.” Infants violently shaken can suffer “swelling, bruising and bleeding in and around their brain.”
Cleveland Clinic also adds that shaken baby syndrome “may damage a child’s eyes, neck and spine as well.” The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome states that the annual cases of shaken baby syndrome in the United States is between 600 and 1,400.
“This condition is the most common cause of child abuse death in children younger than 5 years old in the U.S.,” Cleveland Clinic states.
