A 19-month-old toddler is in a medically-induced coma after a SWAT team threw a flash bang grenade in his crib during a no-knock raid. Local news stations report the child is also paralyzed. However, police state that the incident isn’t their fault – the baby is, sadly, a casualty of domestic terrorism.

The boy’s mother, Alecia Phonesavanh, had brought her husband and children to visit her sister-in-law in Georgia after their own Wisconsin home burned down. Habersham County, Georgia, deputies allegedly bought drugs from a man in the home earlier that week and returned with a no-knock warrant on May 28th. The raid occurred around 3 a.m. A Special Response Team (SRT) accompanied by narcotics agents breached the door and, finding the doorway blocked, threw the flash bang. The object blocking the doorway just happened to be little Bou Jr’s playpen, and the device landed on his pillow.

Sheriff Joey Terrell, the district attorney, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) have all stated that law enforcement did not engage in any wrong doing, as they did not know there would be children in the home. Terrell told press that because their informant did not mention seeing any children on the premises, the event could not have been prevented or avoided. He additionally stated that they had had prior information on the suspect, who had been involved in an altercation involving a “possible AK-47.” He added that the altercation was “supposedly about drugs.”

He also reports that the child’s parents “knew something was going on” and tried to keep themselves and their children separated from the dealings while searching for another place to live.

However, Terrell also shows little remorse or sympathy for the innocent child caught in the crossfire and takes none of the blame. “The person I blame in this whole thing is the person selling the drugs,” he told the local news. “All they care about is making money… They don’t care about what it does to families. It’s domestic terrorism, and I think we should treat them as such.” He went on to talk about how angry it makes him that these “terrorists” have destroyed another family.

Wanis Thonetheva, 30, was arrested on drugs and weapons charges during the raid; however, police have not been clear as to whether or not drugs or weapons were actually found in the home.

By Terrell’s logic, it is Wanis Thonetheva who is responsible for the maiming of a baby, because he committed the terrorist act of voluntarily exchanging a desired product for money. Thonetheva is guilty because Regardless of one’s belief as to whether or not this is a heinous crime, does such an exchange warrant a violent response that endangers not only the seller, but his or her family, friends, or neighbors? Terrell states that his department started the team because “children are getting involved in situations they don’t need to be.” However, one could argue that children also do not need to be innocent victims during no-knock raids.

A charity to help little Bou can be found here. Contact information for the county police can be found here.