Three children were found dead and two others injured inside a home in the Ellis County city of Italy in US Texas state on Friday afternoon, police said.
Ellis County Sheriff’s Deputy Jerry Cozby said law enforcement officers were first called about 4 p.m. to a home on the 300 block of South Harris Street, near Italy ISD’s Stafford Elementary School, according to the local US media.
“Three deceased victims were found inside the home,” Cozby said. “All victims were children. Two children were taken to the hospital. A suspect has been detained in the case.”
Investigators have not yet described the circumstances of the deaths and details on the injured children were not yet known.
Cozby said a person he said was a suspect has been detained in connection with the investigation and there was “no danger to the public at this time.”
Family members told NBC 5 it was the children’s mother who killed them.
“We are shocked by this incomprehensible tragedy, and already working with law enforcement to investigate how this happened, and why,” a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokesman said in a statement.