Mother shoots children, then kills herself

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, September 12, 2017

OSYKA (AP) — Two children are hospitalized after their mother shot them and then killed herself.

Pike County Sheriff Kenny Cotton tells local media that Shequita Stanciel shot her 17-year-old daughter and 7-year-old daughter Monday morning, before turning a handgun on herself. The shooting happened in Osyka, near the Louisiana state line.

The 7-year-old was critically injured and taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson for surgery. The 17-year-old’s injuries are less serious, but she is hospitalized in McComb.

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Pike County Chief Investigator Chris Bell says investigators believe Stanciel suffered from depression. Cotton says Stanciel kept her children home from school Monday, and at one point called the sheriff’s department and threatened to harm them. Later, one of the children called authorities to say she had been shot.