CHICAGO _ The two young boys who were found dead Thursday morning in an apparent murder-attempted suicide involving their mother have been identified, authorities said Friday.
The children who died in the 7200 block of South South Shore Drive early Thursday were identified as Ameer Newell, 7 months, and Johntavis Newell, 2, both of the 8800 block of South Parnell Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Thursday about 1:45 a.m. police responded to a call of a "person down" outside an apartment building at the South Shore Drive address. They found a 20-year-old woman and her son on the ground, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
The 2-year-old boy appeared to have been thrown to his death from the 11th floor, police said.
Police found the younger boy in a bathtub in an apartment on the 11th floor. He appeared to have been scalded and had lacerations on his head, Guglielmi said.
Both boys were pronounced dead at Comer Children's Hospital, officials said. Autopsies for both boys were scheduled for Friday.
The attack apparently began when the 20-year-old woman, who is the boys' mother, stabbed a 70-year-old man several times in his head and body and stabbed Ameer multiple times before setting him into a "scalding" hot bath, police said.
The woman first hurled Johntavis out of the window and then plunged herself from the same window at the apartment, police said.
The woman, who had several broken bones, and the 70-year-old man were both listed in serious condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The relationship between them was not known yet.
The state Department of Children and Family Services has not visited the boys' family before, but as of Thursday was launching its own investigation into the deaths at the high-rise, according to spokesman Jassen Strokosch.
The woman, who has one prior arrest for crossing between CTA cars, was under arrest at the hospital, but no charges had been filed as of Friday afternoon.
