A fourth child has died after deputies say their mother tried stabbing her seven children before setting their house on fire.
Darlene Brister, 40, is facing malice murder charges after Paulding County investigators received a report of house fire where a woman was inside allegedly attacking and stabbing her children.
The 911 caller said a woman inside the house was trying to stab the people inside and that the house was also on fire.
Channel 2′s Elizabeth Rawlins spoke to neighbors who witnessed the chaotic and tragic scene unfold on Woodwind Drive late Friday night.
“Three lives are gone,” said neighbor Edward Swinger.
“I walked out the door and could see the fire in the house,” said neighbor Willie Hayes.
When investigators arrived, they found seven children in the house. Two of them were already dead and three others were taken to the hospital.
“They bring the kids out dead and she is still hiding in the house,” said Hayes. “It’s pitiful.”
Neighbors told Channel 2 the family has lived across the street for nearly five years. They see the family often but they hardly know much about them.
“She doesn’t talk to anyone,” said Swinger.
“We would see them but we wouldn’t communicate with them,” said Hayes.
But they did hear that there were on-going domestic issues at the house but they never thought it would lead to this deadly violence between a mother and her children.
“It’s so sad,” said Hayes. “Why would someone do that to their children?”
The names and ages of the three children who died have not been released. Brister is being held in the Paulding County Detention Center without bond.
Fire officials are still working to learn the cause of the fire.
So what do we do about knives? Ban them, too. As Archie Bunker said to Michael, “what would you rather they do, Trow ’em outta winda?” That woman will spend eternity in a special area of hell. Probably alongside the DemonRat population.