Mother hurls 2 kids from window

Children survive fall but are badly injured after suicidal mother throws them from fourth floor

Eli Senyor|Published: 09.28.10 , 08:39

A 38-year old woman threw her two children out of their fourth-story window in southern Tel Aviv Tuesday, afterwards jumping out herself. All three survived the fall, but the youngest child is in critical condition.

The mother told police officers later she had wanted to kill her 7-year old daughter and 5-year old son and then to commit suicide.

Scene of attempted murder, suicide (Photo: Ofer Amram)

Paramedics alerted to the scene at 5:30 am found the three laying on the lawn below the apartment. The boy is currently unconscious and severely wounded – he is being kept on life support. Both mother and daughter suffer from broken bones, but are fully conscious.

Police say they are unfamiliar with the family's history and that the father – the mother's husband – is currently abroad. All efforts to track him down have proved fruitless so far.

Mark, the family's neighbor from the floor below, was first to alert rescue forces to the scene. "I heard someone yell, 'Mommy, mommy'," he told Ynet.

"I looked out the window and saw the mother and two kids on the grass. One child was lying there without moving, but the other child was yelling in pain and so was the mother."

Mark said the family had moved into the building only a few months before.