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0 Two small children died in a Bronx shelter after being stabbed multiple times in the neck and torso, police said Saturday – shortly after arresting the boys’ ‘erratic, naked mother as a person of interest.
The incident occurred at an apartment in a family shelter near in Mount Hope around 7:20 pm, and saw both a three-year-old and 11-month-old killed.
Their 24-year-old mother was taken into custody around 7:50 pm, police said in a late-night presser, revealing the arrest came about a half hour before the bodies were discovered.
Officers initially were sent to the residence after receiving a call at 7:20 pm complaining of a woman acting ‘erratic.’ Upon arrival, police said, they found a woman nude in the kitchen lighting objects on fire.
Despite ‘acting irrational,’ the woman was taken into custody without incident and brought to a nearby hospital for evaluation.
Minutes after officers left, the boys’ father would discover the two children unresponsive in the bathtub of apartment, and called officers back a second time around 7:55 pm.
Before their arrival, neighbors would help the dad pull the boys from the tub and attempt to resuscitate them, to no avail. They were were transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital where they were pronounced dead, according to police.
The mother, who has not been named, is currently in custody as a person of interest, Deputy Chief Louis De Ceglie of Patrol Borough Bronx said Saturday at 11 pm outside the building at 246 Echo Place.
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Two small children died in a Bronx shelter after being stabbed multiple times in the neck and torso, police said Saturday – shortly after arresting the boys’ mother as a person of interest
Deputy Chief Louis De Ceglie of Patrol Borough Bronx said Saturday that the unnamed mother is currently in custody as a person of interest. She was arrested after being found naked in the apartment at 246 Echo Place
‘Officers arrived and found a 24-year-old female naked inside of the apartment on the third floor acting irrational’,’ Chief De Ceglie told reporters outside the building.
De Ceglie said the initial report received by officers had warned of a ‘female acting erratic, but non-violent, with no weapons.
‘The officers took the female into custody without incident, and awaited the response of the ambulance.’
De Ceglie said the woman was 24; a police release said she was 22.
Officers were thought to have missed the boys’ bodies upon their first stop at the domicile, due to them being stashed in the bathroom at the time of their response.
At some point after before cops arrived a second time, the boys’ panicked father, who also has not been named, made an impassioned plea for help upon discovering his sons’ brutalized bodies.
Their 24-year-old mother was taken into custody around 7:50 pm, police said, after revealing the arrest came about a half hour before the bodies were discovered
That call was reportedly heard by a neighbor a floor above on the fourth-floor, who helped the distraught dad pull the kids out of the tub when he found them and administer CPR.
Speaking to The New York Post, the neighbor, who asked not to be named, recounted the drama that unfolded in the less than 30-minute window after the woman’s arrest and the boys being declared dead.
‘I tried to give the little baby some air but it was too much,’ the neighbor told the paper, alleging that cops and other emergency officials had ‘walked past’ the kids the first time.
‘It’s just sad.’
Another witness shared with the outlet how, amid the commotion, she heard the father frantically scream ‘help me,’ as he carried the boys’ bloodied bodies through the building’s hallway.
Efforts to resuscitate the children, however, were ultimately unsuccessful, despite being administered by the aforementioned neighbor and an unidentified family member, cops said.
The medical examiner will determine the cause of death, police said.
Meanwhile, the accounts of neighbors at the Bronx public housing building paint a picture that suggest the murders may have been the culmination of a domestic dispute, which were not unknown to family.
Police said there had been one previous call to the residence for a dispute ‘several years ago.’
The children’s mother remained into custody as a person of interest. No charges have been filed at this time.
