A baby boy remains in a critical condition in hospital after being stabbed in his home on Monday morning.
The tot who is just a year old, was attacked alongside his three-year-old brother who died at the scene.
Their mother, a nurse in her 30s, is the only police suspect in what has been described as a tragic domestic incident.
She also remains in a critical condition in hospital having been treated for injuries believed to have been self-inflicted.
Her husband, who was at work when the incident unfolded at their rented farmhouse in Co Antrim , is being looked after by friends and family along with the couple’s older children, a son and daughter.
A source said: “A sense of disbelief has settled on the area. This mum was well known in her nursing job and has always been regarded as the most caring of people. So it’s hard to imagine that her family could be involved in something so tragic.”
Police were alerted to the scene at Bankhill Road in Magheramorne just outside Larne on Monday morning.
The husband of the injured woman called emergency services after he received a call from his wife on a mobile phone.
An emergency procedure swung into action as local PNSI attended the house and other police and ambulance service personnel made their way to the scene. A police helicopter and the Air Ambulance were also tasked.
The mother and baby were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital , Belfast.
Last night the curtains in the bedrooms were pulled and the front door of the house which the family of six had moved into in January 2019, remained open.
The road past the property has been reopened but PSNI officers remain at the property which is being treated as a crime scene and the front gate is cordoned off.
A jeep with personalised number plates, driven by the mum, is still sitting in the driveway.
Funeral arrangements for the three-year-old child who died on Monday will be made after a post mortem report is returned.
A PSNI spokesperson said on Monday: “Police can confirm that an investigation has commenced into the circumstances surrounding the death of a young child in the Larne area today.
“A woman in her 30s and a baby are currently receiving hospital treatment for injuries.
“The investigation is at an early stage and police are currently not looking for anyone else in connection with the death.”
