Two young children were apparently stabbed to death in a Bronx apartment Saturday night – and the boys’ mother is in police custody as a person of interest, cops said.
The young boys, ages 3 years old and 11 months old, were each found with “multiple stab wounds” to the neck and torso inside of an apartment building at 246 Echo Place in Mount Hope just before 8 p.m., Deputy Chief Louis Deceglie told reporters.
The boys’ 22-year-old mother had been taken into custody before the children were found dead earlier in the day, when police were called to the apartment on a report of a woman acting erratically and lighting things on fire in the kitchen around 7:20 p.m.
Police found the mother on the third floor of the building naked and “acting irrationally,” with the bathroom tub overflowing and flooding the building, cops said.
She was taken into custody “without incident,” and was taken via ambulance to St. Barnabas Hospital for evaluation, where she arrived around 7:50 p.m., Deceglie said.
Before she left for the hospital, a family friend told cops that the woman’s children were with their father, police said.
Around 7:55 p.m., police received a second 911 call to the same location from the boys’ father reporting that the kids were found unresponsive, according to police and sources.
Police said one of the boys was found on the floor and another was found on a bed. They believe the kids were in the tub the first time they responded to the residence, sources said.
A fourth-floor resident told The Post he helped the panicked father pull the kids out of the tub when he found them.
“I tried to give the little baby some air but it was too much,” the neighbor said.
He said EMS, firefighters, shelter staff, cops “walked past” the kids the first time.
“It’s just sad,” he said. “I told [the father] to put him on the bed. The oldest one, I tried to give CPR, to give him air but it wasn’t working.”
A witness said she heard the panicked dad screaming “help me” as he carried the bloodied kids through the hallway.
Efforts to resuscitate the babies by a family member and responding officers were unsuccessful, cops said. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death, police added.
Video viewed by The Post shows EMTs performing CPR on the tiny bodies as they’re wheeled out of the building on stretchers. The children were transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital where they were pronounced dead, according to police.
The children’s mother remained into custody as a person of interest. No charges have been filed at this time.
Police said there had been one previous call to the residence for a domestic dispute, however it was “several years ago.”
A neighbor who lives down the hall, Shannon Holyfield, said the boys’ parents were fighting earlier in the day.
Later, she heard the boys’ father screaming and saw him carrying the two boys, naked and covered in blood.
“He was screaming hysterically,” Holyfield said. “He was screaming ‘help me!’ And I came and opened my door and I see him coming down the hall with the two boys in his arms.
“They were dead. They were dead. There was blood everywhere, it covered them,” the distraught neighbor said.
“It’s horrible. It’s heartbreaking.’
Holyfield added “They are babies. The boys didn’t deserve that.”
Charlotte Obiri, 47, told The Post that she has known the boys’ mother for over a year and the two would spend time in the park together with the kids. She said she’s been sick to her stomach since she heard about the kids’ tragic ends.
“I’ve been crying. I didn’t see it coming. Genuinely what the f—k happened?” Obiri said.
“She never seemed distraught,” she said of the kids’ mom. “We’d be in the park and she’d put them on the swings. She never displayed no type of behavior like that at all.
“I don’t know what happened. Why did it come to this?” she added. “We just see her the other day. If you were in distress, bring those kids to us.”
Obiri said that she had seen both the mother and father last week. The father said he was talking about changing shifts at his job.
The couple argued “once in a while” but the mother mostly kept to herself, neighbors said.
“I say she was quiet but whatever she had going on with herself she kept it to herself,” said Edwin Jones, 50, who lives on the fourth floor.
Others said the family was known for its arguments, with the mom known for outbursts.
“I found out the kids I watched growing up got stabbed to death,” said Queens resident Michelle Rivera, 23, choking back tears.
Rivera, who said she’s friends with the dad, last saw the family before Thanksgiving while they were arguing where to bring the kids for the holiday.
“There is always an argument, always a conflict,” Rivera said.
