WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Three children were killed inside a California apartment and the mother’s husband has been arrested in connection to their deaths, authorities said Thursday.
California Highway Patrol officers arrested Robert Hodges, 33, on Interstate 80 in neighboring Sacramento at around midnight Thursday, West Sacramento police Sgt. Roger Kinney told television station KCRA.
The children died at a West Sacramento apartment after 9 p.m. PDT Wednesday. Police and first responders tried life-saving measures on the children, but all three were pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not revealed how the children were killed.
Kinney said the mother witnessed the killings, and that she, too, was a victim of domestic violence. Police have not determined if Hodges was the children’s father.
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“Obviously, she’s traumatized, and it’s going to take some time to find out what’s going on,” Kinney said.
The initial 911 call came in as a domestic violence incident, and as police were on the way to the apartment, someone called again to report the children were possibly dead, he said.
The children’s names, ages and genders have not been released.
Kinney said a chaplain will be sent out to help neighbors of the victims and grief counselors will be made available to the officers who responded to the scene, as well as the Washington Unified School District, Kinney said.
“The officers are absolutely impacted, along with the firefighters, and certainly the family, the neighbors,” he said. “It’s horrific and it’s very difficult to deal with.”
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