2 children stabbed to death in Point Breeze

HORRIFIED neighbors gasped as police carried the bodies of two children - brutally stabbed to death allegedly by their mother - out of a home in Point Breeze last night.

The grisly scene was discovered just after 5 p.m. when officers responded to the home, on 18th Street just south of Morris, for a report of a person with a weapon and a disturbance inside, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

When they arrived, they found an 8-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl with multiple wounds to their chests in the middle bedroom - which police believe was their room - of the first-floor apartment. Both children were pronounced dead at the scene at 5:25 p.m.

The children's 27-year-old mother told police that she stabbed them to death, Small said, adding that she was acting bizarrely when they arrived, leading them to believe that she may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Neighbors were shocked as they watched police move in and out of the three-story rowhouse, collecting evidence.

Neighbor Chea Meas, who said that he has been friends with the children's grandfather for five years, said that he was unaware of any depression or mental illness in the family.

He added that the grandfather's family, including the children's mother, moved to South Philadelphia from Cambodia about a year and a half ago.

"It's very shocking and surprising," Meas said. "It seemed the mother was perfect and very nice. I don't know what would lead her to kill her children."

The mother was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to undergo a mental evaluation.

"The fact that she made a statement that she was responsible for stabbing and killing her own children, we would normally take her for mental evaluation," Small said.

"There are no words," he added. "You hope you never see this again in your career."

He said that investigators recovered a knife that they believe may be the murder weapon, but couldn't reveal any details about it.

Police said that the maternal grandparents of the children also lived in the apartment, and that the grandmother was there when police arrived. She may have discovered the bodies, Small said.

He added that several family members were taken to the Homicide Unit for questioning.

"It's a terrible thing to comprehend," he said.

"We're gonna get to the truth."