Police have arrested and charged a suspect with first-degree murder in connection with the death of a 4-year-old boy in Burrville on Monday.

Peter Hendy, 33, was arrested by D.C. Police on Tuesday. According to charging documents, Kamari Zavon Taylor was beaten to death by Hendy, his mother’s live-in boyfriend. NBC4 reported that Hendy, left alone with Taylor on Monday morning at their house in the 5600 block of Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE, punched him in the abdomen several times. Hendy later told police that Taylor was acting like a “smart-mouth kid,” and that the child said he “doesn’t have to listen to you, you’re not my daddy.”

Hendy told police that after he beat him, he let Taylor go outside to ride his bike for about 30 minutes and put the child to bed when he came back inside saying he wasn’t feeling well. After leaving the house to sell marijuana, Hendy said he returned to find Taylor unconscious. Taylor was pronounced dead at the Children’s National Medical Center. According to a medical examiner, Hendy’s punches lacerated Taylor’s liver and separated it into three parts. The medical examiner also said the trauma Taylor suffered would have made it impossible for him to ride his bike for an extended period of time.

The incident comes nearly one month after another disturbing incident involving the death of a child. On July 8, Michael Kingsbury, a 7-year-old with autism, was found dead in a car near his home in the 1700 block of West Virginia Avenue NE. Police spent two days searching for Kingsbury before his body was located. A funeral was held for Kingsbury on July 19, and authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of his death.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery