Police: Officers shoot woman stabbing her child

[November 29, 2011]  ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) -- Police officers shot and killed a woman in an Atlanta home when she didn't comply with orders to stop stabbing her young daughter, who also died, authorities said Monday.

Police and fire rescue personnel were called to the home Monday afternoon and were told an 8-year-old boy had been assaulted by his mother and thrown out a window, said an Atlanta Police spokesman, Maj. Keith Meadows.

Meadows said witnesses told officers the mother was alone inside the home with her young daughter. He said officers entered the house and found the mother sitting in a chair, stabbing the child.

Two officers drew their service weapons and ordered the woman to drop a knife, firing at her when she did not comply, Meadows said. He said between 10 and 16 shots were fired.

Police spokesman Carlos Campos said the stabbing victim was dead at the scene, while the 8-year-old boy was hospitalized in stable condition with apparently minor injuries. Police said they did not know if the daughter had been struck by a bullet, and did not know a motive for the attacks on the children.

Campos said the officers involved in the shooting will be placed on a routine administrative leave during the investigation.

Neighbor Lela Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the family had lived in the home about a year and a half. She said the child who died was nearly 5 years old.

The mother's name was not immediately released.

[Associated Press]

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