BATON ROUGE – A Baton Rouge man is accused of pointing a gun at his sleeping children and sending threatening messages to the mother Monday morning.

According to arrest records, Cecil Beals, 36, was charged with a felony count of aggravated assault and cyberstalking Monday.

Documents allege that Beals took a photo while pointing a silver revolver at his two sleeping children and sending it to their mom with the message, “that’s how I feel bout them. F—them kids b--.”

The mother told East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s deputies that Beals continued to send messages threatening to shoot the children.

Deputies placed Beals into custody at his home. Investigators say he admitted to taking the photos and sending them to the mother but added that the handgun was just a toy. Beals said he just wanted the victim to come back home.

Detectives spoke with the mother who said her children had many toy guns but not the gun in the photo. Investigators reviewed the photo and concluded that the gun appeared to be real.

Beals was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on the above charges.