Mother Questioned Following Deaths of 3 Children Found on Brooklyn Shore

 The children were found unconscious on Coney Island Beach after an emergency call early Monday morning. Their mother was discovered nearby, barefoot and “soaking wet,” the police said.

Police on the boardwalk Monday.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

By Hurubie Meko

Sept. 12, 2022Updated 10:08 a.m. ET

Three children died after being found unconscious on the shore at Coney Island Beach on Monday morning and their mother was being questioned, according to police officials.

The 3-month-old boy, 4-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy were found on the shoreline in Brooklyn by officers responding to a call of an emotionally disturbed woman, said Kenneth Corey, the chief of department, at a news conference on Monday morning.

A relative, concerned that the children’s mother may have harmed them, called the Police Department at about 1:40 a.m., he said. The call may have been prompted by statements made over the phone by the mother, Chief Corey said.

When officers arrived at an apartment at 3325 Neptune Ave., no one answered the door, he said. However, they met a man inside the building who identified himself as the father of one of the children, Chief Corey said, and the man, also concerned about the children’s welfare, told the officers that he believed the woman and children were at the boardwalk at Coney Island.

After a 90-minute search, the officers were directed by another 911 call to the boardwalk at Brighton 6th Street and Riegelmann Boardwalk, where they found the 30-year-old woman and other relatives, but not the children.

The woman was barefoot and “soaking wet” when officers found her, Chief Corey said, but it is unknown if she had been in the water or if she was wet from the rain.

“The search now intensified,” Chief Corey said at the news conference.

Officers began searching for the children by air and sea and along the shoreline, he said.

At around 4:40 a.m., officers found the three children unresponsive on the shoreline at West 35th Street, in Coney Island, about two miles from where they found their mother. Officers began administering CPR.

The children were taken to Coney Island Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.