SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Shreveport police confirm a woman accused of throwing two children off a bridge into Cross Lake is in custody.
The body of one of the young children was recovered from the lake by Shreveport police marine patrol officers after someone reported seeing a child floating near the Cross Lake bridge just before 11 a.m.
A marine patrol then found and rescued another small child in the water. That child was taken to LSU Oschner Health Shreveport alive, but in very serious condition with what were considered life-threatening injuries.
A third child has been located and is safe, police say. They will not confirm the sex or age of any of the children, nor the relationship of the woman to the children, although Sgt. Angie Wilhite said there was a close enough connection that the detectives do not feel that it was a random act of violence.
Police say an alert was sent out to law enforcement agencies to look for the woman's vehicle, a gray Dodge Caravan with Texas tags. The woman was taken into custody without incident at the rest area just across the Texas state line after a Waskom police officer spotted the vehicle. Her name has not been released. Police say she is 30 years old.
Police are still working to determine which bridge the children were thrown from, whether it was the Cross Lake Bridge or the low bridge at South Lakeshore.
Police are asking anyone who may have seen the gray van or "anything out of order" to contact their detectives at 318-673-6955 or Crime Stoppers, where tips are always anonymous, at 318-673-7373.
"This is a tragedy and we ask for prayers for the children and their family," Wilhite said. "Pray for our law enforcement officers that have been out here all day, all morning working on this. Our firefighters, Life Air, our dive teams with the Caddo sheriff's department, and the police department. It's been a multi-agency effort. Unfortunately, there's no happy ending to this, but we do have the suspect in custody. Our detectives are working right now on interviews and recovering more evidence in the case."
0 Comments