Hanford infant's death ruled a homicide

Last week's death of a 3-month-old Hanford infant boy is being classified as a homicide investigation, police announced in a Tuesday afternoon press conference. Cause of death was also made public Tuesday afternoon by the Kings County Coroner's Office.

Victor Gonzalez died Friday, more than two months after being airlifted to Children's Hospital suffering from severe head trauma. A June 8 child abuse case led investigators to a south Hanford residence, where the boy was found with injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

Tuesday, Deputy Coroner Tom Edmonds announced that Gonzalez's death was a result of anoxic encephalopathy, a failure of oxygen being delivered to the brain which causes brain disfunction. The conditions had developed over the course of 2 1/2 months, and was caused by a traumatic brain injury brought about from blunt force trauma.

Investigation into the case is continuing, and no arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon. More details will be available in Wednesday's Sentinel.