Officials say Johnathan Michael Jones has been charged with intentional child abuse in connection with the case.
The 2-month-old victim is in the ICU on life support, according to authorities.
A neighbor says she was babysitting baby Jaxen when Jones, his father, came over to pick him up. She says Jones was very moody but she did not think anything of it until minutes later he came back with a vengeance pounding on her door.
"[Jones] was aggravated all day. He's always kind of a jerk. He always has an attitude...I don't like him," said neighbor Sarah Aponte.
"When [Jones] came back, he took the baby. I said [Jaxen] could stay here. He said no, 'I have him.' When I handed him the baby, [Jaxen] whined. He said, 'Here we go, again. This kid hates me,'" she told ABC11.
Minutes later, Aponte saw an image she will never forget.
"He was pounding on my door...and we came running, and he handed me the lifeless baby. He said something is wrong, and I said, 'What did you do. What did you do to him?' He said 'I was just feeding him and he choked.' I said, 'You're a liar,'" she said.
Aponte says they called 911 immediately and investigators charged Jones with abusing Jaxen.
According to court documents, Jaxen suffered a retinal hemorrhage.
Aponte says though she is shocked by the incident, she is not surprised, and has called 911 on her neighbor before.
"He just yells...he probably smacks too hard. But they've had ones before that," she said.
Jones is currently being held in the Johnston County Jail under a $400,000 bond.
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