Mom accused of throwing own kids off Louisiana bridge, killing one

A mother was being held on murder charges Saturday after police said she threw two of her children from a bridge in northwest Louisiana, killing one and seriously injuring the other.

The first child was found floating near the Cross Lake bridge in the city of Shreveport around 11 a.m. Friday and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. The other victim was located moments later in the same lake and was brought to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to police.

That second child was treated and was reportedly expected to survive, officials said in an update late Friday.

Police did not release the ages or genders of the victims, but local news outlets identified the surviving child as a 5-year-old boy and the other as an infant boy. Their names were not immediately known.

Their mother was arrested Friday afternoon near the Texas state line, where she was caught driving a minivan with Texas license plates, Shreveport Police Sgt. Angie Wilhite said at a news briefing livestreamed by KSLA-TV.

The suspect, 32-year-old Ureka Black, has since been charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. She was being held without bond at the Caddo Parish jail.

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“We do believe at this point that the children were thrown from a bridge,” Wilhite told reporters without providing details or a possible motive.

“This is a tragedy and we ask for prayers for the family of these children and for our law enforcement officers who have been here all day, all morning working on this,” she said.

A third child who was initially believed to be missing in the water was found elsewhere and was said to be safe. Police did not say where the family lives.

The investigation is ongoing.