Gazzam is being held in the Allegheny County Jail while he awaits his arraignment. He has not yet entered a plea and it’s unclear if he has retained an attorney.
On Sunday, police and paramedics who responded to a 911 call found a 4-month-old baby girl who was unresponsive, say police.
The baby, Victoria Gazzam, was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Gazzam, the child’s biological father, initially told officers the baby had fallen out of bed at their Mt. Lebanon home on Sunday, according to the criminal complaint, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
But the autopsy revealed that the baby had suffered bleeding of the brain, a lacerated heart vessel, a lacerated left kidney, a liver contusion, three fractured ribs, multiple bruises to the back and head and a hemorrhage behind the eyes, local news station KDKA reports.
The coroner told investigators that the baby could not have sustained such extensive injuries from falling two feet to a carpeted floor, news station WGNTV9 reports.
When police confronted Gazzam about the results, he allegedly changed his story and admitted to punching the child several times because she was “fussy,” the complaint says.
“She stopped breathing and her eyes rolled back in her head,” Gazzam told police according to the criminal complaint.
The baby’s death has left her family reeling.
“They are as devastated as could possibly be,” attorney Joseph Horowitz, a family friend who is acting as a spokesman for the family, told local news station WPXI.
“[Gazzam] just snapped,” Horowitz alleged to the outlet. “He seemed like a good dad who cared about his baby.”
Horowitz could not be immediately reached for comment.
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE