Police said a 3-year-old boy was shot on Easter morning while in a babysitter’s care in southwest Atlanta.
ATLANTA, Ga. — Atlanta police say two adults now face murder-related charges after 3-year-old Armani Lyons was shot and killed early Easter morning at an apartment on Washington Street SW, a case that began with basic questions about how a child ended up with a gunshot wound to the head.
Authorities identified the suspects as 71-year-old Barbara Edwards and 35-year-old Jermaine Hardeman. Police said both face felony murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and second-degree cruelty to children. The charges marked a major turn in a case that first left investigators saying they did not know whether the shot came from inside the apartment or from outside the building.
Officers were first called to the 900 block of Washington Street SW just after 12:30 a.m. on April 5, according to local reports and police statements. By the time officers reached the apartment, Armani had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. He was rushed to Grady, where he was later pronounced dead. The Fulton County Medical Examiner identified the boy later that day. Early in the investigation, Atlanta Police Assistant Chief Carven Tyus said Armani had been left with a 70-year-old babysitter while his parent went to work. Investigators questioned the babysitter as a witness at that stage, and Tyus said the case was still fluid.
As detectives continued to sort through the scene, several major facts remained unsettled. Police had not publicly explained exactly how the shooting happened, who had physical control of the gun when it fired or whether the fatal shot came from inside the apartment. Investigators also said they believed other people may have been inside at the time, though those people had not yet been publicly identified in the earliest reports. A neighbor told local television that an officer carried the child out of the building, while another resident described the area as shaken and fearful after the overnight violence. Those early witness accounts added urgency, but they did not answer the central question that drove the case for days: what happened inside the apartment before the boy was shot.
Family members said the death was especially painful because Edwards was not a stranger to them. Relatives told local media they had trusted the babysitter for years and had used her since Armani was an infant. Armani’s mother, Dinisha Lyons, said she had dropped him off late Saturday night before going to work at the airport and then got a call from police telling her to come to Grady Memorial Hospital. She described her son as a happy child who loved monster trucks and Spider-Man. Her public comments helped shift the story from a police investigation to a broader account of loss, trust and a family searching for answers after a routine childcare arrangement ended in a child’s death.
By April 11, police said homicide investigators had established probable cause to seek arrest warrants for Edwards and Hardeman. Authorities did not publicly spell out the specific relationship between Hardeman and the child, and police had not yet released a detailed account of the moments before the shooting. Still, the filing of charges signaled that investigators believed the adults bore criminal responsibility for the conditions that led to Armani’s death. Police said the suspects were not in custody as of the updated report cited by local media. That left open the next steps in the case, including booking, first appearances in court and any future disclosure of warrant affidavits or probable-cause details.
In the days between the shooting and the charging announcement, loved ones held a vigil near the apartment complex and called for justice. Family members asked neighbors to share surveillance video if they had any from the area. Armani’s grandmother remembered him as a joyful little boy who always ran to greet her. The family also organized funeral arrangements and sought help with burial costs. Those scenes of mourning stood in sharp contrast to the sparse facts released by investigators, underscoring how much of the case remained hidden from public view even after the arrests were announced.
As of the latest public update, two adults had been charged, but police still had not publicly explained the full chain of events inside the apartment. The next milestone is expected to come when the suspects are taken into custody or investigators release additional court records.
Author note: Last updated April 15, 2026.