Two children dead, mother in custody in Bronx: NYPD

NEW YORK (WPIX) — Two young men were stabbed and killed in a Bronx apartment Saturday night, and their 22-year-old mother is in police custody, authorities said.

The victims were an 11-month-old and a 3-year-old found with multiple stab wounds around the neck and body in the bathroom of a Mount Hope apartment around 8 p.m., police said. According to police, the brothers were found in a bathtub covered in clothing, which was leaking water and spilling onto the bathroom floor. They were unresponsive and not breathing.

The father and the officers tried to give the children CPR, but they could not be saved. The boys were taken to the hospital, where they died from their injuries.

“I heard my father shouting in the corridors: ‘Help me!’ Help me!’ That’s when he brought two boys, dead, covered in blood,” said Shannon Holifield, a neighbor of the family. “It’s awful… I won’t be able to sleep tonight… it’s really sad.”

40 minutes before the tragic discovery, police were called to the same apartment, described by authorities as a family shelter, on reports of an emotionally disturbed man and found the young mother acting erratically and trying to burn things, the NYPD said.

The woman was found on the third floor and taken into custody without incident. She was taken to the hospital, the police said.

A short time later, the father found the boys dead in the bathtub, and police were called to the apartment a second time, authorities said.

The mother remained in police custody but had not been arrested as of Sunday morning.

The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.