NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Three young children died Monday after they were found lifeless on a Coney Island beach—possibly drowned by their own mother, who was discovered yelling incoherently as she wandered on the Coney Island Boardwalk two miles away.
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The kids were found on the beach at W. 35th Street around 4:45 a.m. They were not breathing and had no vital signs, police said.
They were rushed in critical condition to Coney Island Hospital, where they were later pronounced dead. They include a 7-year-old boy, 4-year-old girl and 3-month-old girl.
The search for the siblings started hours earlier after police received a 911 call from a concerned family member who said she was concerned the kids’ 30-year-old mother may have harmed them.
Police responded to the mom’s apartment at 3325 Neptune Ave. The door was unlocked but the mom and her kids were nowhere to be found, NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said at a morning press conference.
A man inside the building who identified himself as the children’s father expressed similar concerns as the other family member had. He told police he believed the mom and kids were on the boardwalk.
Police launched a search for the woman and three kids, including using the aviation and harbor units to scour the shoreline by air and water.
After about 90 minutes of searching, police located the mom at Brighton 6th Street and the Coney Island Boardwalk. She was yelling incoherently, drenching wet and wearing no shoes at the time. Police said she was accompanied by family members but not her three children.
The kids were eventually discovered more than two miles away from where the mom was found, lying lifeless in the sand at the water’s edge at W. 35th Street, police said. Officers attempted to revive them and rushed them to the hospital but they did not survive.
The mom was questioned by police at the 60th Precinct stationhouse for about six hours before she was taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation.
“So far she has not said anything,” Corey said at the NYPD press conference, adding that she was not in custody at this point and no charges have been filed.
“We don’t know exactly what happened here yet,” Corey said. Police are looking to speak with possible witnesses, who are asked to call the department’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
The children's bodies were found just three blocks from their mother's 24-story apartment building.
Neighbors said they were stunned, upset and angry to hear the news. A man who worked at the building said the mom moved there about a year ago and that everything seemed to be normal when he saw her with her children in recent days.
There was no indication of prior abuse or neglect of the children, Corey said as the investigation continued.
A police source told the Daily News that the mom called a cousin and told them that she had drowned her children.
The woman’s aunt told the outlet that she’d been “struggling.”
“I did not realize it was this bad,” she said. “Many family members have struggled with mental illness.”
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