York Regional Police have charged a family member of a two-month-old baby after the infant was found seriously injured in a Markham hotel on Tuesday.
York Regional Police and paramedics responded to 8900 Woodbine Avenue, north of Highway 7, just after 2 p.m. for reports of an infant injured.
They arrived to locate a baby inside a hotel room with “very serious” injuries. The child was rushed to hospital, where they remain in critical condition.
Police said a 61-year-old man was taken into custody at the scene. On Wednesday, police said the man, who is from China, had been charged with attempted murder.
Because the accused is a family member, police are not releasing his name to protect the identity of the baby and the witnesses. Police did not specify how the man is related to the infant.
Monte Carlo Inn in Markham is the scene of a police investigation after a baby was found injured in a room. (CTV News/Francis Gibbs)
Police had said that there were other family members inside the hotel room at the time of the incident, and one of them called 911.
“We can never identify victims of crimes, even in a case where you know, we have a little baby boy as the victim. We also have witnesses involved that we believe may potentially be family members. So there’s a lot of other things connected to that,” Const. Laura Nicolle said.
“It is a challenge for us. Obviously, we want to be able to put as much information out to the public as we can, but we also have to protect the integrity of the investigation, and we have to be very, very sensitive to the additional family and the victim.”
Few details about the circumstances surrounding the incident, including how the baby was injured, have been released.
Police continue to ask anyone with information to contact the Special Victims Unit investigators at 1-866-876-5423 ext. 7071 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS.
