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Mother Arrested for Dropping Children Into Bay
One Body Recovered and Two Others Presumed Dead
By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP
SAN FRANCISCO (Oct. 20) - A mentally ill woman seen dropping her three sons into the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay was held in a hospital jail ward on three counts of murder while anguished relatives kept vigil and rescuers combed the water for the bodies of two of the victims.
Lashaun T. Harris, 23, of Oakland, remained under arrest Thursday after police found her pushing an empty baby stroller away from a pier where a witness reported spotting a woman drop her children off the end.
The body of Harris' middle child, Taronta Greeley, 2, has been recovered. The other two boys - Treyshun Harris, 6 and Joshoa Greeley, 16 months - remained missing Thursday, but were presumed dead after so many hours in water with a swift current and temperatures in the low 50s.
More than 100 rescuers from the U.S. Coast Guard and the San Francisco police and fire departments scoured the bay a mile (1.6 kilometers) out from the scene of the tragedy. "We are going to be out here until we find them," said police spokeswoman Maria Oropeza.
Harris was jailed in a locked ward at San Francisco General Hospital. She suffers from schizophrenia and had threatened to hurt her children, according to Britney Fitzpatrick, her 16-year-old half-sister.
"She told my mama she was going to feed them to the sharks," Fitzpatrick said. "No one thought it was that serious."
About a dozen family members spent Thursday afternoon meeting with police investigators and praying near the pier. They described Harris as a devoted mother who used to work as a nurse's assistant at a retirement home in Oakland, but over the last year-and-a-half fought an increasingly unsuccessful battle with mental illness.
"It's confusing. I just want to know why she did it," said Demarcus Harris, Lashaun Harris' cousin.
The last time he saw his cousin was Tuesday afternoon at his sister's house in Oakland. When she left, Harris said goodbye and "I'm going to miss y'all," but that neither he nor his sister had an indication of what she would do the next day.
"We all thought she was just going home," Demarcus Harris said.
Harris had been living with her children in a Salvation Army shelter in Oakland since early September, said her sister, Telicia Harris, 26.
Before that, she lived with her mother, with another sister in Florida. and with the father of her children. She had been taking medication for her schizophrenia, it was not clear how consistently.
Lashaun Harris was hospitalized at least twice this year - in January and during the spring in Florida - and her mother was briefly granted custody of the boys. Social workers determined after the first hospital stay that Lashaun was fit to care for the boys, said Telicia Harris.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that Harris told authorities voices had told her to throw her children into the water. The San Jose Mercury News said she first took off their clothes.
Police said the father of the children has been helpful.
10-20-05 16:49 EDT
One Body Recovered and Two Others Presumed Dead
By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP
Lashaun T. Harris, 23, of Oakland, remained under arrest Thursday after police found her pushing an empty baby stroller away from a pier where a witness reported spotting a woman drop her children off the end.
The body of Harris' middle child, Taronta Greeley, 2, has been recovered. The other two boys - Treyshun Harris, 6 and Joshoa Greeley, 16 months - remained missing Thursday, but were presumed dead after so many hours in water with a swift current and temperatures in the low 50s.
More than 100 rescuers from the U.S. Coast Guard and the San Francisco police and fire departments scoured the bay a mile (1.6 kilometers) out from the scene of the tragedy. "We are going to be out here until we find them," said police spokeswoman Maria Oropeza.
Harris was jailed in a locked ward at San Francisco General Hospital. She suffers from schizophrenia and had threatened to hurt her children, according to Britney Fitzpatrick, her 16-year-old half-sister.
"She told my mama she was going to feed them to the sharks," Fitzpatrick said. "No one thought it was that serious."
About a dozen family members spent Thursday afternoon meeting with police investigators and praying near the pier. They described Harris as a devoted mother who used to work as a nurse's assistant at a retirement home in Oakland, but over the last year-and-a-half fought an increasingly unsuccessful battle with mental illness.
"It's confusing. I just want to know why she did it," said Demarcus Harris, Lashaun Harris' cousin.
The last time he saw his cousin was Tuesday afternoon at his sister's house in Oakland. When she left, Harris said goodbye and "I'm going to miss y'all," but that neither he nor his sister had an indication of what she would do the next day.
"We all thought she was just going home," Demarcus Harris said.
Harris had been living with her children in a Salvation Army shelter in Oakland since early September, said her sister, Telicia Harris, 26.
Before that, she lived with her mother, with another sister in Florida. and with the father of her children. She had been taking medication for her schizophrenia, it was not clear how consistently.
Lashaun Harris was hospitalized at least twice this year - in January and during the spring in Florida - and her mother was briefly granted custody of the boys. Social workers determined after the first hospital stay that Lashaun was fit to care for the boys, said Telicia Harris.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that Harris told authorities voices had told her to throw her children into the water. The San Jose Mercury News said she first took off their clothes.
Police said the father of the children has been helpful.
10-20-05 16:49 EDT
