Boy, 8, dies from hammer attack after trying to protect younger sister
SACRAMENTO, CA (WCMH) – Family members say 8-year-old Dante Daniels died from injuries he sustained during a hammer attack after trying to protect his little sister.
Dante had just started third grade at Oakridge Elementary School in Sacramento. On September 1, his second day of classes, Dante didn’t make it to school.
On that morning, the ex-boyfriend of Dante’s mother, Deandre Chaney Jr., attacked him with a hammer. “This guy beat my grandson with a hammer. Down to his spine. They couldn’t save his brain,” Dante’s grandmother, Monique Brown, told KTXL.
Brown says Dante died trying to stop Chaney from performing a lewd act on his 7-year-old sister. “Trying to save his sister from this child molester and that’s why he was beat the worst.”
Dante would die six days later from his injuries, but his family said his courageous heart now beats in the chest of a 4-year-old in southern California.
Chaney is now facing murder and attempted murder charges, along with the charge of a lewd act with a child under 14.