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Court documents say a Tennessee, USA mother killed four of her children by cutting their throats and sheriff's deputies found a large butcher knife with what appeared to be blood on it in an apartment were the killings took place.
An affidavit filed in Shelby County court by a sheriff's detective on Saturday said 29-year-old Shanynthia Gardner of Memphis has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in the deaths of her four children on Friday in a gated neighbourhood.
The victims were a 4-year-old boy; a 3-year-old girl; a 2-year-old girl; and a 6-month-old girl.
A 7-year-old boy escaped the attack. All five children were Gardner's.
The affidavit also says Gardner spoke by phone to her husband, Martin Gardner, and acknowledged she killed her children.
Attempts to reach him or relatives of the Gardners have been unsuccessful.
Shelby County Sheriff Bill Oldham on Saturday called the crime "a terrible act".
He did not release a suspected motive for the attack.
Deputies were called to an apartment complex in Shelby County on Friday afternoon (local time).
They took Gardner into custody after finding the children's bodies.
APTN
