American Notes ILLINOIS

"I'm not here to hurt anyone," said Rudolfo Linares, wielding a .357-cal. pistol. "I'll only hurt you if you try to plug my baby back in." Linares, 23, and his wife Tamara had come to the Chicago hospital in the middle of the night to visit their 15-month-old son. Since swallowing an uninflated balloon and suffocating at a birthday party last August, little Samuel had been partly brain dead, kept alive by a life-support system.

Linares, a burly landscaper, held doctors, nurses and police at bay with the pistol while he unplugged his son's ventilator. Sobbing, he cradled Samuel in his arms for 40 minutes, even after a monitor that remained attached to the baby showed that his heart had stopped beating. Linares then turned over his weapon and surrendered. As the handcuffed father was led into a police station, Linares said, "I did it because I loved my son." He was charged with first-degree murder and has been ordered by a judge to undergo a psychiatric examination.

Police reported that Linares had repeatedly implored hospital officials to "pull the plug" on the infant. Last December he unplugged the ventilator, but security officers quickly reconnected it.