A homicide investigation is ongoing in west Philadelphia after a 40-year-old woman viciously attacked her toddler son with a knife before drowning him in the bathtub and trying to take her own life.
The 5-year-old boy’s father told investigators that he found his wife unresponsive at their home late Monday night. She had sustained several stab wounds that appeared to be self-inflicted.
When he moved to the bathroom, he found their injured child drowned in the water-filled bathtub with his face down.
Paramedics performed CPR on the tot but he couldn’t be saved. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead a few minutes later.
Police arrested his mom just after being released from the hospital. Her identity as well as that of her son was not released as of Tuesday.
“You never know who is sick, because they look just like me and you,” a witness who recalled heavy law enforcement outside the home told reporters.
At this time, the motive of the attack remains unclear but officials believe the boy’s mother suffered some mental illness.
“We will do a premise history of this particular location to see how often and when we’ve been to this location if any, and the nature of the assignments but that’s part of our routine investigation,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small stated.
