TUCSON, Arizona (KOLD/Gray News ) – An Arizona man who was granted temporary custody of his 10-month-old son just last month is now charged with the child’s murder.

The Tucson Police Department said Jimmy Torre McElroy, 28, was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse.

Police said on Oct. 21, officers responded to an apartment complex following a report of a 10-month-old child who was having seizures.

The preliminary complaint states the child was taken to Tucson Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. Doctors determined that the child needed emergency surgery.

McElroy allegedly told hospital staff and detectives that the child had two seizures earlier in the day. According to the preliminary complaint, McElroy changed his story to add that the baby fell off the bed the night before and hit his head either on the floor or the leg of a weight bench.

The child was diagnosed with a midline shift (displacement) in the brain, a skull fracture and hemorrhage in both eyes. Doctors did not expect the child to survive.

On October 30, doctors said they did not expect the child to regain consciousness. The child died this week.

McElroy would later admit that he dropped the child and the child landed on his head.

McElroy said that’s when the child had a seizure and he “gently shook the child to get him out of it.”

Doctors said his explanation of the “slight” shaking was not consistent with the force needed to cause the eye to hemorrhage.

A search of McElroy’s phone records showed that he called his mother, his girlfriend, another friend and the child’s pediatrician before calling 911.

McElroy was initially arrested and booked into the Pima County Jail on child abuse charges.

The charges were upgraded to include second-degree murder after detectives were notified Tuesday that the child had died.

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