CNN
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Authorities are investigating the deaths of three children who were found unresponsive along a New York City shoreline early Monday after a family member reported concerns about their safety.
The children – a 7-year-old boy, 4-year-old girl and 3-and-a-half-month-old girl – were found in Brooklyn’s Coney Island around 4:42 a.m., according to NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey
All three children were pronounced dead after first responders conducted life-saving measures, including CPR, Corey added.
“We don’t know exactly what happened here,” Corey said during a news conference Monday, stressing that information was preliminary.
A woman authorities said is “believed to be the mother,” was questioned by police Monday morning after they found her in Brighton Beach. The 30-year-old was later hospitalized, police said, not disclosing her condition.
There is no indication at this time of prior abuse or neglect of the children, authorities noted.
As investigators piece together what exactly happened to the children and the woman, here is what we know about how the events unfolded:
Police received a 911 call at 1:40 a.m. Monday from someone who was concerned a “family member may have harmed her three small children,” Corey said. The caller asked police to check on the woman’s apartment.
When police arrived at the apartment, a man who identified himself as the father of one of the three children and said he was also concerned, Corey added. The man told police he believed the woman and three children were at a boardwalk on Coney Island.
For about 90 minutes, police officers canvassed beaches, streets and a local hospital. Then another 911 call came in directing officers to a specific location – Brighton 6th Street and Riegelmann Boardwalk in nearby Brighton Beach.
The caller reported a woman who was despondent, a police spokesperson told CNN.
When officers arrived, they found the woman and other family members with her. The children were not at that location.
The search continued via ground, air and harbor units. Around 4:42 a.m., officers found the children on the shoreline at West 35th Street in Coney Island.
The location where the children were found is about two miles from where the woman was discovered.
The woman was “soaking wet” when investigators made contact wit her, according to Corey, who noted it was not clear whether she’d been in the rain or in the water off the coast.
Police questioned the woman, and she is now hospitalized, according to the NYPD, though her medical condition is unclear.
The woman has not been charged, police said.
