3 children dead after drowning incident on Coney Island, mother being questioned

NYPD officials gave a briefing on the drowning of 3 children on Coney Island. 

Police said they first responded to a 911 call at around 1:40 a.m. Police say a concerned family member called.

“The caller indicated that she was concerned her family member may have harmed her three small children,” said NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey. 

Police went to the woman’s apartment but got no reply at her door. In her Neptune Avenue building, they encountered a man who was the father of one the children, Corey said. He told the officers he was also concerned about her, and he believed the woman and the children were on the Boardwalk on Coney Island. 

Officers searched for 90 minutes, when police got another 911 call from about two miles away. Responding officers found the woman, 30, believed to be the mother. She was soaking wet and barefoot, Corey said. There were no children with her, Corey said. 

“At about 4:42 this morning, the officers discovered three children, a 7-year-old male, a 4-year-old female, and another female who’s approximately three and half months old, on the shoreline here at the water’s edge on West 35th Street in Coney Island,” Corey said. 

The officers immediately began CPR and rushed the children to the hospital, where they were pronounced deceased. 

Corey said there’s no evidence of any prior abuse or neglect of the children.